West Ham United vs Norwich City. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance59,950.
Report and highlights as goals from Sebastien Haller and Andriy Yarmolenko secure victory for West Ham
Saturday 31 August 2019 20:06, UK
West Ham sealed their first home win of the season thanks to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Norwich.
Club-record signing Sebastien Haller continued his excellent start to the season for the Hammers, opening the scoring in the 24th minute with his third goal of the season.
Andriy Yarmolenko doubled Manuel Pellegrini's side's lead in the 56th minute with his first goal since September last year, after 10 months out with a torn Achilles, as the Hammers moved up to fifth in the Premier League table.
The defeat leaves Norwich, who drop to 19th in the table after a third defeat in four league games, still searching for their first points away from Carrow Road this season.
Norwich started brightly at the London Stadium. but their early momentum was halted when captain Christoph Zimmermann went down in the 21st minute under a late challenge from Haller.
Zimmermann had only just returned from injury to make his Premier League debut at the London Stadium, but he was able to continue after lengthy treatment on the pitch.
However, three minutes later West Ham took the lead as Arthur Masuaku burst past a struggling Zimmermann, who was eventually replaced in the 36th minute, before squaring for Haller to slide in his side's opener.
Norwich came close to equalising towards the end of the first half, as Max Aarons picked out Todd Cantwell at the far post, but the ball was too high for the midfielder, who headed over from close range.
West Ham doubled their lead 11 minutes after the break. Yarmolenko struck the post moments before producing an excellent finish from a tight angle, volleying home after captain Mark Noble's attempted cross rebounded to him for his first London Stadium goal.
The Hammers continued to dominate proceedings, coming close twice in two minutes, with Tim Krul putting a deflected Ryan Fredericks cross out for a corner and Emi Buendia clearing a goal-bound header from Issa Diop off the line.
With just over 10 minutes left of the game, Krul denied West Ham a third, tipping Manuel Lanzini's header over the bar, before making a double save just a minute later from Anderson and Haller.
Manuel Pellegrini
"I said at the start of the season and in pre-season, we need to improve in defending. We conceded too many goals last season. I was very happy with the performance of the backline today. The personality, the attitude, the mentality. We scored a goal and continued to try and create chances. All the creative players our full backs attacking. We tried to be a complete team."
Daniel Farke
"I thought we were top class in the first half but we had to take chances when we were 2-0 down, and Tim Krul made some very decent saves. On this level small details make the difference, and that's what happened today. There was a nasty tackle on Christoph Zimmermann which injured him. He will need a scan."
Andriy Yarmolenko scored his first goal in over a year to put this game to bed for West Ham. Like a new signing for the Hammers and will be a huge asset to them if he can stay fit.
After the international break, West Ham are back in Premier League action on Monday, September 16 when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park, live on Sky Sports (kick-off 8pm).
Norwich are also live on Sky Sports when the Premier league returns - they face champions Manchester City on Saturday, September 14 at 5.30pm.
