Soccer

West Ham’s troubles subside as Southampton put to sword

Round-up: Burnley win pushes West Brom closer to drop; Leicester punish Brighton late on; Bournemouth salvage point

West Ham United’s Marko Arnautovic scores their second goal in the premier league game against Southampton at The London Stadium. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Sat Mar 31 2018 - 17:30

West Ham put their recent troubles aside to beat fellow-relegation battlers Southampton 3-0 and lift the atmosphere at the London Stadium.

While there were protests against the board outside Stratford station before the match, there were no repeats of the ugly scenes inside the ground which marred the defeat by Burnley before the international break.

David Moyes’s side moved 2-0 ahead inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Joao Mario, on loan from Inter Milan, put the Hammers in front following a swift breakaway after 13 minutes.

READ MORE

Before Southampton, in a first Premier League match for new boss Mark Hughes, could recover, they were further behind when Marko Arnautovic scored from close range.

Austrian Arnautovic – who played for Hughes at Stoke – made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time with a volley.

West Ham move to 14th place while the Saints are still in the bottom three.

Bottom club West Brom edged another step closer to relegation after losing 2-1 at home to Burnley.

Ashley Barnes's acrobatic finish put the Clarets ahead on 22 minutes and Chris Wood headed in with quarter of an hour left.

Although Salomon Rondon scored a late consolation, the Baggies were left 10 points adrift of safety with only six games to go.

Leicester scored two late goals to beat Brighton 2-0 at the King Power Stadium, where they finished with 10 men.

The Seagulls had just seen Glenn Murray's penalty saved before Vicente Iborra broke the deadlock on 83 minutes.

Leicester midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was sent off for a second caution with three minutes left but Jamie Vardy slotted in during added time.

Jermain Defoe came off the bench to net a stoppage-time equaliser as Bournemouth snatched a 2-2 draw at Watford.

Kiko Femenia's deflected volley put the Hornets in front on 13 minutes, but Joshua King levelled things up from the penalty spot just before half-time.

Roberto Pereyra restored Watford's lead four minutes after the restart only for veteran forward Defoe to have the final say in added time.

Newcastle boosted their own survival hopes and dented Huddersfield's with a 1-0 win at St James' Park.

Ayoze Perez struck with just 10 minutes left to push the Toon Army up to 12th and leave the Terriers only three points above the drop zone.

LATEST STORIES