Match Recap: West Ham United 2-0 Leeds United

Leeds United were beaten in London yet again in the club’s first visit to West Ham United’s new stadium.

The Whites had two goals disallowed in the opening ten minutes, the first coming from a switch ball toward Costa which was helped on by Patrick Bamford. Costa then found Tyler Roberts on the inside who finished well but the linesman flagged for offside. VAR had a look and agreed with the linesman with the margins being minimal in this decision.

The second was more obvious though as Raphinha drove down the left side before cutting the ball back to Bamford who made a clever run into the front post ahead of his marker coupling with a good finish. However, Raphinha didn’t manage to get the ball across before it crossed the goal-line, once again by a tight margin.

West Ham built into the game from there and won a penalty on the 20-minute mark as Lingard cut inside and was tripped by Ayling near the edge of the box, giving the referee no choice but to point to the penalty spot. Lingard took the penalty and Meslier saved it low to his right, but Lingard gobbled up the rebound and gave The Hammers the lead.

A second goal came on 28 minutes from yet another corner-kick, with Cresswell’s ball finding the free head of Craig Dawson who headed the ball in at the back post as West Ham continue their strong form from set-pieces.

Patrick Bamford has a good chance go begging early in the second half as Diego Llorente sent Bamford through on the right channel before opening up his body and trying to whip the ball into the far corner but the ball floated just wide.

The away side just struggled to put the ball away with Raphinha having a decent chance by the edge of the box, firing into a crowd of bodies without any luck. Bamford had yet another great chance fall to him on 78 minutes having been set up by Raphinha in the centre. Despite having a bit of room at close range, he skewed the finish way over the bar.

The Whites then had a chance cleared off-the-line as the ball was lifted into Luke Ayling on the right channel who fired the ball low toward the back post. It’s unclear if the contact was made by Rodrigo or his marker but the ball was on its way in before Dawson cleared the ball away on the line.

It’s been a tough run for Leeds and the fixture list doesn’t get any easier. Leeds must assess their problems, pick themselves up and prepare themselves for the next game as Chelsea visit Elland Road next.