West Ham United vs Southampton. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance59,961.
Highlights and report as Hammers bag two goals in three minutes
Saturday 4 May 2019 19:46, UK
Marko Arnautovic ended his 11-game goal drought to give West Ham a 3-0 win over Southampton in their final home game of the season.
The Austrian grabbed his first in the 16th minute when latching on to Mark Noble's perfectly-weighted through-ball and slotting past the recalled Fraser Forster.
Nathan Redmond's introduction gave Southampton fresh impetus after the break and they threatened an equaliser until the hosts killed the game off with two goals in three minutes.
Arnautovic nodded in his second from close range (69) after Forster's attempted clearance hit him and lobbed into the air before defender Ryan Fredericks (72) netted his first goal of the campaign with an angled drive soon after.
West Ham remain in 11th place but can still finish in the top half with victory at Watford next weekend while Southampton stayed 16th following their 11th away loss of the campaign.
With safety already secured, Southampton boss Ralf Hasenhuttl left regulars Redmond, James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu on the bench and also recalled Forster in goal in place of Angus Gunn.
For most of the opening 45 minutes, it showed as Saints failed to manage a single shot on goal.
With Noble and Manuel Lanzini pulling the strings for West Ham, the hosts made all the running and showed their intent with England U21 youngster Grady Diangana twice having shots.
The pressure told in the 16th minute when a loose ball from Saints defender Yan Valery on the halfway line found its way to Noble and the skipper slotted a precise pass through to Arnautovic, who didn't even have to break strike before steering home a left-foot shot.
Redmond's introduction and a half-time talking to from Hassenhuttl changed the momentum after the interval as Southampton pressed for an equaliser.
Redmond had one shot blocked and then saw a fierce volley tipped over by Lukasz Fabianski.
But it was West Ham who came up with the second goal even though Arnautovic's second after 69 minutes had a big element of fortune.
Arthur Masuaku drove into the Southampton boss and crossed into a packed area and, although Forster got to it first, the Saints goalkeeper could only punch the ball onto Arnautovic's shoulder and watch it loop into the air, allowing the striker to nod into an empty net.
Three minutes later and the game was well and truly over.
Fredericks burst forward, received a clever flicked return pass from substitute Jack Wilshere and powered into the box before firing home.
Manuel Pellegrini: "We played a good game, we won the last game here at home with the fans, and we are coming from also a big victory against Tottenham so I think that the fans are happy.
"As a transition season, I think we did well. We had so many injured players during the whole year, I hope that with a normal year we can improve next season."
Ralf Hassenhuttl: "I think it wasn't our best performance. It seems like the last weeks, the last month cost a lot of energy I think. Also mentally we were not in the power to fight back after the mistake in the first half.
"In the second half, we had more chances to come back but today it looked like we can't score. After this really hard battle the last few weeks it seems like the guys are a little bit tired. A very, very intense last month."
The Austrian had gone 11 games without a goal for West Ham, a frustrating run that did not sit right with his obvious talents.
But there was a calmness about his opening goal that defied a man in a drought and, despite a slice of luck for his second, he had got himself into the six-yard box and deserved a break.
He almost iced the cake with a curling third but, although the hat-trick did not come, Arnautovic is a huge asset to West Ham when in this sort of form.
West Ham round their campaign off with an away trip to Watford while Southampton say farewell with a home game against relegated Huddersfield.
