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The goals: Summerville’s opener was well-worked by West Ham but all too easy from a Sunderland perspective, the second came from an avoidable Trai Hume challenge in the box and the third was an absolute pearler from Matheus Fernandes.
The Black Cats have created chances and looked especially threatening in the opening 10 to 15 minutes but they responded badly to the initial concession, ceding control in midfield.
Time to me to grab a cuppa while we digest that first half.
HT: West Ham 3-0 Sunderland.
What a half of football for West Ham United. Crysencio Summerville and Jarrod Bowen have been excellent and the home side have been utterly ruthless, punishing a sloppy Sunderland, who are missing their talisman Granit Xhaka.
The scoreline is a complete reverse of what we saw at the Stadium of Light on the opening day of the season. Who’d have thought it …
45 mins +2: Reinildo catches Bowen and West Ham are appealing for a second yellow card. But it looks like the full-back is going to escape punishment.
Surely Le Bris will have to change something at the break? He’s got Geertruida to add ballast to the base of midfield, or perhaps Simon Adingra or Wilson Isidor to spice up a forward line that hasn’t taken its chances.
45 mins: The camera keeps panning to Xhaka in the crowd. He has proven to be a huge miss.
We’ll have three first-half added minutes.
It all stemmed from a lovely switch of play to pick out Summerville, who laid it back from the left to Castellanos. After the striker’s shot was blocked, Fernandes picked it up and curled it into the top corner beyond Roefs, who got a slight hand to it.
Sunderland look shell-shocked.
GOAL! West Ham 3-0 Sunderland (Fernandes, 43)
What a beauty from Mateus Fernandes! Stick that in your scrapbook! A brilliant strike from 25 yards out.
42 mins: It’s now Sunderland who are making more fouls and it’s West Ham who are gleefully sending crosses into the box, pinning back their opponents.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s gameplan has worked to perfection. So far.
40 mins: Enzo Le Fée is another Sunderland player who has been quiet so far.
West Ham just seem to have a numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch, so they’re crowding out the mercurial Frenchman.
38 mins: Nordi Mukiele isn’t having the best game I’ve seen him have. He always looks more comfortable at centre-back in my view and he’s been given a tough time by Summerville so far.
Ironic cheers are greeting every misplaced Sunderland pass right now.
The free-kick came to nothing, but 3-0 to West Ham now looks likelier than 2-1, if we’re having a conversation about where the next goal will come from.
35 mins: Reinildo is next into the book for Sunderland after hauling down a rampaging Bowen on the left-hand edge of the Sunderland box.
A free-kick for West Ham coming here, in a dangerous spot.
Silly decision from yours truly to put Robin Roefs in my FPL team. And Granit Xhaka. *Facepalm*
Whoever has Bowen will be sitting pretty.
32 mins: Summerville is causing all sorts of problems with his dancing feet down the Hammers’ left; Sunderland are struggling to contain him.
After a corner won by the ex Leeds man, Roefs punches clear from under his own crossbar. The Black Cats are wobbling here.
To be fair, Sunderland have maintained a threat going forward today, but they’ve lacked control in the middle and discipline in defence. Poor marking for the first goal and poor decision-making from Hume to concede the penalty.
Régis Le Bris has a face like thunder in the visitors’ dugout.
30 mins: Did anyone have West Ham winning 2-0 after half an hour on their predictions card?
Ballard is booked as Sunderland’s frustrations continue.
There was only a very brief VAR check after that, which was only right. The only delay to the penalty being taken were the Sunderland players surrounding the spot trying to put Bowen off.
He never looked like missing, to be honest, a picture of composure.
GOAL! West Ham 2-0 Sunderland (Bowen, 28)
Bowen steps up from the spot. Can he make it 103 Premier League goal involvements for West Ham?
Yes he can! Slotted into the bottom right corner, no problem.
PENALTY TO WEST HAM! Hume fouls Scarles and there’s almost no argument from the Sunderland man, and barely any hesitation from Thomas Bramall.
Yep, he definitely caught him, knee to knee. Clear penalty.
26 mins: A big issue for West Ham so far is how many fouls they are committing. It’s playing straight into Sunderland’s hands, allowing them to pile crosses into the box to test Alphonse Areola.
Jarrod Bowen moved onto 102 goal involvements in the Premier League with that assist for Summerville, by the way, the most for a West Ham player.
24 mins: Summerville races down the hosts’ left and there’s a big test of Ballard’s hamstring as he’s forced to sprint across and cover, getting enough of the ball to stop the flying West Ham winger.
Dan Ballard might have done himself a mischief during that challenge – he’s holding his hamstring. Let’s keep an eye on him.
22 mins: West Ham have no desire to press high, on the other hand, instead sitting in a mid-block waiting to pounce when the ball is played into midfield.
Another long Sunderland cross finds Ballard’s head and the defender manages to hold off a grappling Soucek and head goalwards. Just wide.
19 mins: Sunderland have shown great intent since going 1-0 down… they’ve shown it from the first whistle, in fairness. They pose a major threat down the flanks and via crosses, long throws etc. Can West Ham hold firm?
And now Pablo misses a big chance for West Ham! The angle was tightening and he had Robin Roefs closing in on him, and eventually skied it.
It’s all suddenly become very open after a cagey first 10 minutes.
16 mins: Goodness me, there was almost an immediate chance to equalise for Sunderland’s Trai Hume, after a long throw was flicked in his direction, but he couldn’t keep his looping header under the crossbar.
Bowen eventually got it on the right and jinked his way to the byline, digging out a delicious cross that was ideal for Summerville to rise highest and nod home. Almost too easy. That’s the moment West Ham were craving!
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Sunderland (Summerville, 14)
In fact, Wan-Bissaka is seeing plenty of the ball now and dovetailing quite nicely with Jarrod Bowen on the Hammers’ right flank. A switch of play finds Summerville in space and suddenly the hosts have a bit more pep in their step.
And just like that, they’ve scored! Summerville’s header!
11 mins: Romaine Mundle v Aaron Wan-Bisska is shaping up to be a fascinating one-versus-one tussle this afternoon, down the Sunderland left/West Ham right.
10 mins: Most of the early noise inside the London Stadium is being made by those of a Sunderland persuasion.
These early kick-offs can feel quite low-key sometimes, and West Ham are going to need more energy from their fans. They’ve pressed a little more in the past few minutes without creating a chance of note.
7 mins: Now the home fans want a free-kick as Summerville runs into trouble but the ref is seemingly keen to keep the play moving… although West Ham do eventually get a free-kick as Castellanos is impeded.
5 mins: Referee Thomas Bramall blows up for a slight foul by Castellanos in the centre-circle just as West Ham were looking to break.
It prompts the first London Stadium groan of the afternoon. I’d suggest it might not be the last.
3 mins: West Ham are under the cosh already, with Sunderland willing to press high and send crosses into the area without delay.
2 mins: No Granit Xhaka in Sunderland’s midfield could make this interesting. It does look like a straight 4-4-2, with Sadiki testing Areola early on with a sweet left-footed volley after a long throw was headed into no man’s land.
KICK OFF
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp!!
Broadcasters TNT Sports have Sunderland’s formation down as a 4-2-3-1 with Hume in midfield and Mayenda out wide on the right. Guess we’ll find out soon …
There’s a lot of West Ham fans still queuing outside the stadium, and will seemingly be late for kick-off. Traffic in the area, or just a disconnect between Hammers supporters and their team?
Anyway, the players are coming out of the tunnel, bubbles aplenty, and we’re almost ready to go.
Also kicking off at 12.30pm this Saturday lunchtime is a crunch clash in the WSL. Here’s your minute-by-minute coverage of that one with Emillia Hawkins.
Sunderland duo Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco) and Habib Diarra (Senegal) competed in the helter-skelter Afcon final so return to the bench today. Noah Sadiki of DR Congo keeps his spot in the midfield, with it looking like a 4-4-2 from Régis Le Bris with Brian Bobbey and Eliezer Mayenda playing as a strike partnership.
So Callum Wilson is on the West Ham bench after it was revealed he was likely to stay at the club this month, amid rumours of an exit.
There is no Lucas Paquetá, who looks bound for Brazilian club Flamengo.
It was reported earlier today that the Hammers have reached verbal agreement to sign Adama Traoré from Fulham, so there is a boost to their squad on the way.
Given this weekend’s fixtures are a mirror image of the opening day of the season, there is plenty of harking back to be done – and Sunderland’s 3-0 destruction of Graham Potter’s West Ham in August has proven fairly instructive of the campaign to come. The Hammers have remained just as listless despite a change of manager while Régis Le Bris’s team, incredibly, can go fifth by doing the double over West Ham today. That position may be only temporary given the number of European contenders playing later today and tomorrow, but the fact Sunderland are still flying high after 22 games shows they have been far from a flash in the pan.
Team news
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Todibo, Scarles; Soucek, Fernandes; Bowen, Pablo Felipe, Summerville; Castellanos.
Substitutes: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Ward-Prowse, Wilson, Diouf, Magassa, Potts, Kante.
Sunderland (4-4-2): Roefs; Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Reinildo; Hume, Sadiki, Le Fée, Mundle; Mayenda, Brobbey.
Substitutes: Patterson, Cirkin, Geertruida, Talbi, Rigg, O’Nien, Isidor, Diarra, Adingra.
Referee: Thomas Bramall (Sheffield)
Preamble
West Ham are sitting in a spot in the table where everyone expected Sunderland to be, and Sunderland are where West Ham – in Deloitte Football Money League terms – ought to be. But this is football, and one of the great fascinations of this season has been to see the Black Cats confound opponents after their promotion while watching the Hammers’ expensively-assembled squad struggle.
There is a glimmer of hope for Nuno Espírito Santo and his troops. Last week it came in the form of Dr Tottenham, as a 2-1 away win at Spurs gave West Ham their first victory in more than two months. The back-to-back wins in early November both came at the London Stadium so Nuno must generate some momentum with a victory today. The gap to 18th-placed Nottingham Forest would close to just two points if so, with Sean Dyche’s side not playing until tomorrow.
Sunderland will have their full complement of Africa Cup of Nations players back – they were affected by the tournament more than any Premier League team – but they managed fairly well without them, losing just once since 6 December.
The action gets under way in east London at 12.30pm (GMT) so stick with us for team news and match updates.
