West Ham 1-1 Sheffield Utd
by Paul Donovan
at London Stadium

A DRAW was a fair result in this hard fought contest between West Ham and Sheffield United.

The game took some time to really take off, with the first shot on target not coming till the 22nd minute, when Felipe Anderson whipped his shot just over from 20 yards.

Home keeper Roberto pulled off a point blank save from David McGoldrick, the first of a number of fine saves from the Spanish goalie.

West Ham finished a pretty nondescript first half, with a goal from Robert Snodgrass coming through the middle to pick up a neatly placed pass from Andriy Yarmolenko.

The second half saw Anderson win possession, break forward and lay the ball off to Yarmolenko, who saw his effort pushed away. 

Anderson picked up the rebound but saw his rasping shot saved by keeper Dean Henderson.

Sheffield United were rewarded for their pressure in the 69th minute, when a poor headed clearance from Issa Diop fell to Enda Stevens, who headed the ball on for substitute Lys Mousset to sweep home.

There were then a series of West Ham efforts from Aaron Cresswell, Declan Rice and the best a sliding effort from Robert Snodgrass, who hit the post.

The final effort was a 20-yard strike from Yarmolenko that went narrowly wide.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder felt his team deserved to be behind at half time but turned it round in the second half. 

“We didn’t get hurt as much as we could have done. We crossed it, got round their full backs when we had to and took a few more risks,” said Wilder, who was pleased at the resolution and positive attitude shown by his players.

It was a disappointing result for West Ham, who continue to under deliver. Striker Sebastian Haller looks leaden footed and is failing to link effectively with the support players.

An indication of the failure to hurt the opposition can be seen from the corner count in this game – the home side having 10 corners to the visitors’ four.

Declan Rice’s progress also seems to halted, as he always looks to play the safe square pass, rather than move Stephen Gerrard-like into the central midfield area to dominate and dictate play.

The West Ham ship seems to have hit choppy waters and needs to be put back on course.