Southampton produced a stunning first-half display to claim a memorable 3-2 victory at the London Stadium and inflict a first home league defeat of the season on West Ham.
The Saints flew out of the blocks. Kuryu Matsuki opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, finishing after Daniel Peretz’s opposite number Mads Hermansen had saved Léo Scienza’s initial effort.
James Bree quickly made it 2-0 in the 11th minute, before former Saint Kyle Walker-Peters pulled one back for the hosts in the 24th minute with a superb strike assisted by Divine Mukasa.
The chance to get back into the game was spurned by the hosts when Lewis Dobbin restored the two-goal cushion on 34 minutes.
He tapped home the rebound after Hermansen saved Scienza’s shot, giving Southampton a commanding 3-1 half-time lead.
West Ham dominated possession after the break and piled on the pressure, but Daniel Peretz produced several key saves.
17 shots and seven on target could not penetrate the Saints until substitute Tomáš Souček finally reduced the deficit deep into stoppage time with a long-range effort.
That proved to be too little, too late.
The result lifts Southampton into the play-off places while ending West Ham’s strong recent unbeaten run, as well as puncturing hopes of going 10 league games unbeaten for the first time since 2015/16 at Upton Park.
Tonda Eckert’s side showed excellent clinical finishing on the counter, while Nuno Espírito Santo’s men will rue a slow start and it’s a case of back to the drawing board.
West Ham’s confidence will be impacted by this loss, in what was a missed opportunity to go top of the league after Swansea City were dismantled 5-0 away to QPR.
Next up for West Ham is the visit of West Bromwich Albion in the Championship next Saturday.
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