10-man Saints held off West Ham at home, and remain unbeaten in their last five matches.
The last time Southampton earned a good result against Arsenal, they faced West Ham the very next match. Having thumped the Gunners 4-0, they then lost poorly to the Hammers, succumbing 2-1 in a match they should, on the strength of their first half alone, have won comfortably. That was in December, and now, a few months later, following a creditable 0-0 draw at the Emirates, they once again took on the Hammers, and found the grit they so missed last time around. Scoring within ten minutes, Saints took advantage of their early dominance, as Maya Yoshida pounced on a bit a of timid defending to put his team ahead.
Having earned the lead, the home side were content to secede the ball, and look to break; they came close with a few counter-attacks in the first half, with the West Ham defence guilty of creating a few nervy moments for themselves. They allowed West Ham huge swathes of possession in the second half and, following Victor Wanyama’s red card for an immensely ill-advised, chopping tackle on Dimitri Payet, decided they were happy enough batten down the hatches and defend their slender lead. West Ham brought on the cavalry in the form of Andy Carroll and Emmanuel Emenike to try and snatch an equaliser, but Southampton found it within themselves to resist, running out bedraggled 1-0 winners.
BILIC: “They defended really well and we are gutted with the way we lost the game because we had a sloppy start.”
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) February 6, 2016
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