Seb Larsson celebrates his opening goal vs West Ham. (Telegraph.co.uk)
Saturday was a largely forgettable day across the EPL with several 0-0 draws. For Sunderland supporters, however, it was just what the doctor ordered, in the form of a visit from West Ham. Though higher in the table, the Hammers have been struggling on the road this year, and they've yet to really get their transfer acquisitions into the mix.
From the opening whistle it appeared that the Black Cats were just going to smother West Ham, who came out awfully dull and flat. They rarely pushed Sunderland in possession and were beaten to nearly every loose ball by a Sunderland squad who knew they desperately needed the three points to distance themselves from the drop zone. Throughout the opening ten minutes Sunderland worked methodically to stitch the Hammers closer into their own penalty area, and everyone could feel the pressure build. The said pressure finally paid off in the 12th minute when Sebastian Larsson collected the ball near the top of the penalty arc and smashed a drive into the back of the Hammers net to make it 1-0.
West Ham started to wake up after conceding the goal, but had a really hard time stringing 3-4 passes together, let alone really threatening up in the offensive third. Newly acquired Joe Cole could not find hardly any time on the ball, and what service that was sent into Carlton Cole was poor. Finally Matt Jarvis prodded Simon Mignolet out of his easy chair in the 20th minute, but his low shot went pretty much right to the center of the goal and was easily collected. It would be West Ham's only real chance of the half.
Sunderland did get a decent look at doubling their lead in the 26th minute when Stephane Sessegnon collected the ball at the top of his offensive third and gave James Collins the traffic cone treatment before rushing onto goal. Unfortunately for the Sunderland faithful his shot was rather off balance, sailing well wide of the goal and sealing the 1-0 scoreline going into the interval.
It didn't take long for Sunderland to widen the gap after halftime though. Sessegnon freed James McClean on goal in a 1v1 situation, but Jussi Jaaskelainen showed fine form to perry the shot toward West Ham defender Daniel Potts. However, instead of at least clearing the ball out for a corner kick, Potts tried to bundle the ball back to his keeper, and Sunderland pounced. Steven Fletcher got in the way and took a shot from point blank range that was again well saved by Jaaskelainen, but it didn't go away from danger and effectively took the West Ham shot stopper out of the play. Adam Johnson was on hand for Sunderland and easily tapped into the gaping net to make it 2-0 on 47 minutes.
Sunderland kept their foot on the gas and iced the points in minute 74. Sessegnon had a close range shot blocked, but it deflect out to McClean, who threaded the ball into the net from a difficult, but possible, angle to make it 3-0.
As for West ham, they never really got off the ground in the second half either. They subbed in Arsenal loan man Marouane Chamakh to try to provide some punch, but it didn't really help as he never got the required service either. His one contribution came in the 64th minute when he headed a ball embarrassingly wide off a corner kick.
In the end, Sunderland easily mopped up the points to move up to 25, just one behind West Ham and six points clear of the relegation zone. Both teams will face FA Cup replays later this week.
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