West Ham's disaster season continues as Leeds put them in more trouble

16 hours ago 1

West Ham's disastrous season continued as a devastatingly bad first 15 minutes proved critical in a 2-1 defeat to Leeds at Elland Road.

After a poor loss by the same scoreline on Monday at home to Brentford, Nuno Espirito Santo called for an improved performance in terms of effort. But not even West Ham's fiercest rivals could have scripted such a bad start.

The goals came from West Ham's usual deficiencies: crosses and corners. In Leeds' first attack after three minutes, Brenden Aaronson tapped home from close range as the hosts won two penalty-box duels in the air.

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Then from Leeds' first corner of the game, Joe Rodon strutted past Lucas Paqueta and beat both Jean-Clair Todibo and Max Kilman in the air to nod home. It was the ninth goal West Ham have conceded from a corner this season, which has only lasted nine games so far.

Leeds United's Joe Rodon celebrates scoring his side's second goal against West Ham

Nuno could not believe his eyes and brought on Callum Wilson after 20 minutes for the injured Ollie Scarles, who was beaten far too easily for the first goal and was coming off anyway before his injury.

West Ham improved after that with an actual striker on the pitch, with Paqueta seeing a goal disallowed for a tight offside. But the Hammers were still booed off by their own fans at the break as they trudged down the tunnel situated right next to the away end.

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The West Ham fans made their feelings very clear at half-time at Elland Road, as the Hammers were 2-0 down going into the break

Leeds had the better chances of the second period too, with Aaronson striking the crossbar with West Ham cut open far too easily from another counter-attack.

But when all hope was petering away, Mateus Fernandes scored his first Hammers goal - flicking on Jarrod Bowen's effort with his head - to set up a nervy finish ahead of four minutes added on. However, it was too little, too late.

The result moves Daniel Farke's side six points clear of the drop zone ahead of the weekend fixtures. But for Nuno's West Ham, they remain second bottom and if Wolves beat Burnley on Saturday, the Hammers will drop to the foot of the Premier League table.

Player ratings:

Leeds: Perri (7); Bogle (7), Rodon (8), Bijol (7), Gudmundsson (6); Ampadu (7), Longstaff (7), Tanaka (7); Aaronson (8), Okafor (7), Calvert-Lewin (6)

Subs: Justin (6), Harrison (6), Gruev (6), Nmecha (n/a), James (n/a)

West Ham: Areola (5); Scarles (3), Todibo (4), Kilman (4), Wan-Bissaka (5), Diouf (5); Soucek (4), Irving (4); Summerville (5), Bowen (6), Paqueta (5)

Subs: Wilson (5), Potts (6), Fernandes (6), Magassa (n/a), Walker-Peters (n/a)

Player of the Match: Joe Rodon (Leeds)

More to follow.