Felipe Anderson Rescues A Point For West Ham At Huddersfield
West Ham’s Felipe Anderson scored a late equaliser at John Smith’s Stadium to prevent Huddersfield claiming their second win in six days.
Still buoyant from Monday’s victory over Fulham, the Terriers started brightly and Alex Pritchard opened the scoring with just their second goal at home this season – and the first scored by a Huddersfield player.
The hosts then lost Chris Lowe to injury as the German midfielder was carried off with a suspected dislocated shoulder and West Ham had the better of the second half.
Anderson drew the Hammers level but they were unable to follow up last week’s win over Burnley with another victory and secure back-to-back league wins for the first time since January 2017.
That kept Huddersfield second-bottom in the Premier League after Cardiff’s win over Brighton earlier, while West Ham remain 13th.
It took six games for Huddersfield to score at home this season but the Terriers carried that momentum from Monday into Saturday’s game.
They won a second-minute corner from which Steve Mounie headed Aaron Mooy’s delivery goalwards, only to see Lukasz Fabianski tip it against the crossbar.
West Ham then gave the ball away in their own half and Pritchard played a one-two with Jonathan Hogg before dragging a left-footed shot towards goal, but it had enough power to creep into the bottom corner.
The Terriers deserved their half-time lead and they could have been more comfortable as Philip Billing’s left-wing cross drifted over Fabianski and hit the inside of the far post before bouncing on the goalline.
Mounie was again denied by Fabianski after being put clean through by Pritchard and in the second half Huddersfield had to rely on the defensive resolve that served them so well last term.
Anderson may have struck eventually, denying the Terriers their first back-to-back league wins since February, but four points in a week has more than doubled their tally.
Anderson has scored three goals in his past two Premier League games for West Ham, as many as he managed in his previous 24 league appearances
In this fixture last season West Ham showed just what they are capable of by romping to a 4-1 victory and, after Manuel Pellegrini’s appointment in the summer, they have displayed their potential again with wins over Everton and Manchester United before brushing aside Burnley last week.
But Pellegrini’s biggest challenge is getting that level of performance out of his side on a regular basis – and for 90 minutes – as it needed a much-improved second-half showing to secure a draw.
