West Ham United gave their Premier League survival hopes a huge boost with a 3-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
Fresh from a confidence-boosting win away at rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the Hammers put Sunderland to the sword in the first half.
Goals from Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen and Mateus Fernandes put Nuno Espirito Santo’s men in a commanding position, and while Brian Brobbey headed home for the Black Cats just after the hour-mark, the damage was already done.
Fernandes ensures it’s no Paqueta, no problem
It was nothing short of a midfield masterclass from Mateus Fernandes on Saturday.
The Portugal youth international put the game beyond doubt with a goal from the Gods just before half-time, firing the ball just inside Robin Roefs’ near post from 25 yards away, with a strike worth just 0.02 xG.
However, that was only the tip of the iceberg from Fernandes’ performance, which also yielded a team-high for completed passes (42, 89% success) and a match-high tackles (5), as well as 10 passes into the final third, four recoveries, and seven ground duels won at a phenomenal 100% success rate. The former Southampton man almost scored another wondergoal in second-half stoppage time, rattling the crossbar from distance.
With and without the ball, Fernandes ran the show for West Ham, just as he did against Spurs last weekend, when he assisted Summerville’s opener and made 18 defensive contributions.
Lucas Paqueta looks to have played his last game for West Ham against Nottingham Forest at the start of January. However, with Fernandes in this form, West Ham won’t miss him.
Sunderland feel Xhaka absence
While West Ham thrived in midfield on Saturday thanks to Fernandes, Sunderland floundered. The reason, without a doubt, was the absence of Granit Xhaka.
The Switzerland international was a late omission from Saturday’s squad, with the club revealing he hadn’t recovered from an ankle injury sustained against Crystal Palace last week.
Xhaka has been revolutionary in the engine room for Regis Le Bris, but the hole he left on Saturday was gaping and impossible to fill.
Despite controlling 53% possession, Sunderland managed just two shots on target, almost totally lacking in creativity, Brobbey’s goal aside. Most worrying was the fact that Sunderland had just 13 touches in the opposition box compared to 25 from West Ham, while the Black Cats’ key passing metrics across the board — including long passes completed, final-third passes attempted/completed and through balls — all suffered a serious dip from their season average.
Xhaka — who spent large parts of Saturday in confrontation with West Ham supporters in the stands — has missed just two games since joining Sunderland, sitting out the EFL Cup tie against Huddersfield and, now, this one. The Black Cats have failed to win either of them, and looked short on control and ideas in London on Saturday.
What next for West Ham and Sunderland?
West Ham remain in the bottom three after Saturday’s win, but at least for now, they’ve closed the gap on 17th-place Nottingham Forest to just two points. Up next for the Hammers is a testing away trip to Chelsea, before a six-pointer at home to fellow strugglers Burnley.
As for Sunderland, they’re ninth ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches, hosting Burnley and travelling to leaders Arsenal in their next two games.