West Ham will be content with avoiding a Carabao Cup banana skin in the form of Newport County, as they comfortably beat them 2-0 on Tuesday night.
The game started a tentative affair with Newport being direct and the strikeforce of Tristan Abrahams and Padraig Amond linking up nicely, causing Issa Diop no end of problems.
West Ham didn’t look as composed in possession as they had done against Watford with Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez coming into the fold for Declan Rice and Mark Noble.
A few misplaced passes, in addition to some sloppy wingplay from Robert Snodgrass, gave all the omens of a giant killing.
This intensified as Michail Antonio went down when trying to latch onto a Pablo Fornals throughpass.
The winger has been sensational for the club in the last two games and looked like this was his opportunity to stake a claim for the first team.
West Ham were lucky not to go behind to a Padraig Amond finish, only for the striker to uncharacteristically play the ball to Roberto in goal.
Just when you thought it was one of those nights for Jack Wilshere, his persistence saw him get on the end of a Newport mistake and slot to past the ‘keeper’s left.
It was a real poignant moment as the man who has struggled with injury got his first goal for the club he supported as a boy. After the break, West Ham turned the screw with Pablo Fornals slotting home to get his first goal for the Hammers.
From then, the Hammers looked to play keep ball against the long-ball side and see the game out with no additional injuries, ahead of Saturday’s clash with Norwich City.
Here are my ratings for yesterday’s game:
