Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 10:41 PM• Dominic Mostert

West Ham United took fourth place in the Premier League on Wednesday evening. The team of coach David Moyes won 2-0 against Norwich City in front of its own audience and has collected 37 points from 21 games; Arsenal are now fifth with 35 points from 20 games. Tottenham Hotspur follow in sixth place with 33 points from 18 games, while Manchester United have 31 from 19. So there are several clubs that have their sights on the important fourth place.

Norwich, with Tim Krul under the bar, started the game in a promising way. Striker Adam Idah in particular looked menacing, but as the first half progressed, West Ham came out better. Ten minutes before the break seemed the Hammers to reward themselves with a goal. A cross from Jarrod Bowen after a short corner passed everyone and ended up behind Krul in the goal, but the goal was disallowed. Nikola Vlasic was involved in the game in an offside position, the arbitration ruled.

Shortly afterwards, West Ham took the lead. Vladimir Coufal knocked the ball into the penalty area from the right wing, where Bowen jumped higher than his guard and headed in from close range. Norwich got away well when Krul grabbed Nikola Vlasic by the face in the in-goal and threw him down as no penalty followed. In the second half, Mikhail Antonio missed a good opportunity to extend West Ham’s margin, after which Idah hit the post on the opposite side from outside the penalty area. Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski had already been beaten and could breathe a sigh of relief.

Seven minutes before the end, West Ham finally won the match via a counterattack. After preparatory work by Pablo Fornals, Arthur Masuaku brought the ball to Bowen, who finished from close range. The goal was initially disallowed for offside, but was subsequently awarded. West Ham recorded their fourth official win in a row, adding to the problems of Norwich, who are ten points lower in the Premier League. The virtually safe number seventeen Watford has three points more.