West Ham 4 Ipswich 1: Jarrod Bowen simply unstoppable as Hammers turn on style to silence Lopetegui’s doubters
SUN out, forwards finally scoring and a first home win as West Ham manager in the Premier League.
Julen Lopetegui might finally be enjoying life in East London after his Hammers ripped through Ipswich.
After a stodgy start to the season, all three of Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen found the back of the net in this rout.
All four had looked below par under Lopetegui, with neither Antonio nor Kudus even scoring before this afternoon.
But this was West Ham’s best attacking performance since the early weeks of the year, when things were looking up before the sharp downturn which ended David Moyes’ tenure.
Loptegui had bemoaned West Ham’s slow starts early in the season – culminating in conceding after 38 seconds last week at Brentford.
But the Hammers turned that form on its head in East London, taking the lead 47 seconds in here.
Tomas Soucek picked out Jarrod Bowen wide on the right after former Hammer Kalvin Phillips handed possession over in midfield.
Phillips, who endured a horror six month loan at the London Stadium last season, tracked back put could not stop Bowen feeding the ball through his legs for Antonio to finish first time.
For the first time under Lopetegui West Ham had started confidently and had their chests out – though that lasted just five minutes.
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Delap, a summer signing from Manchester City, chased a loose ball from an Ipswich corner to the far side of the West Ham area, quickly spun a struggling Lucas Paqueta and thumped his third goal in two games past Alphonse Areola at the near post.
Areola, who got a hand to the strike, should have dealt with it better but Delap’s confidence in taking on the effort quickly stumped the Frenchman.
West Ham took their time to settle having been pegged back, with Ipswich continuing to create chances in flashes.
Phillips sent an effort over the bar before Jacob Greaves headed wide from a free-kick.
West Ham were hardly free-flowing but started applying pressure once more, with the front three looking far more like their old selves for the first time under the new manager.
Kudus had two chances in as many minutes, one cut out by Phillips on the break before his header struck the bar while Soucek had an effort stopped on the line by Dara O’Shea.
Ipswich have shown plenty of spirit since promotion so far but were starting to creak at the back.
Arijanet Muric stopped a long-range effort from Paqueta, but moments later West Ham found their second.
Emerson Palmieri, the only defender left from last season’s porous back four, drove through the Ipswich defence down the left.
Antonio met his cross but the header struck the bar and bounced out off the line, though Kudus reacted quicker than anyone and nodded past Muric.
Kieran McKenna’s side were sticking to their guns and looking to play through West Ham from the back, though it was getting them into trouble at times.
Sam Morsy had a lucky escape after surrendering possession in the first half, but keeper Muric was not as fortunate after the break.
The former Burnley man attempted a cute ball out of his box just four minutes after the restart, but found Bowen.
Phillips, doing more for West Ham than he had during his time actually playing for the club, allowed the winger to cut inside and drill a low finish into the far corner.
Having been left out of Lee Carsley’s England squad on Thursday, this was a superb response from Bowen.
He was direct and dangerous all afternoon, a return to the form which got him into England contention in the first place – with two assists to go with his goal.
The second of those was for Paqueta, whose tap in capped another fine Hammers move to put Ipswich out of sight – not long after the visitors had tested Areola through the impressive Delap.
Antonio collected the ball and swiftly turned to feed Bowen down the right. Another driving run had him at the byline, able to poke across for Paqueta to grab his first goal since the opening day.
The only frustration for Lopetegui now is that he has to wait until after the international break to try and keep this going.