Boxing Day hangover for West Ham

West Ham 2 Southampton 3

The Overground is closed so it's a long trek on the Underground to Stratford with my daughter Nell. The lack of trains and omicron fears have put off a lot of fans and there are a dispiriting number of empty white seats, giving the game an anti-climatic feel. Still, at least diehards Matt (reading Man About Tarn), Lisa, Fraser, Michael, Nigel, CQ, Alison and Scott are in attendance, with Scott predicting it will be 3-2 again, though he doesn't say for which side.

The Irons look off the pace and disjointed. Southampton take the lead after eight minutes when Walker-Peters finds Elyounoussi, who fires into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Rice and Soucek should surely have closed him down more effectively. 

OFF THE PACE

The away fans regale us with When The Saints Go Marching In and the team in yellow dominate the half, with Fornals, Benrahma, Vlasic and a toiling Bowen failing to create anything up front. "Just get on your horse and f***ing charge!!" yells an irate fan behind us, possibly a cousin of Matt's. West Ham's best chance comes from a misplaced pass by the Saints, as Vlasic draws a decent save from Forster. On the plus side the Bank of Dad does buy Nell a nice if expensive hot dog.

CQ keeps up our spirits at half-time by passing round the inaptly named Celebrations. Moyes shakes it up up at the break by bringing on Antonio, back from isolation, and Lanzini, replacing Vlasic and Fornals though most of the team could have been pulled off. 

West Ham play with much greater intensity and look a better side with Bowen back on the right wing.The equaliser comes when Bowen's corner is headed back by Dawson and Antonio twists to bullet home a header. That will be good for his confidence and even VAR doesn't manage to cancel it.

Yet we can't hold on to the lead. Rice fires a good effort just wide, but then at the other end Broja beats Diop for speed. Dawson barges into him outside the box but then falls into the Saints striker in the box. After the ref gives a corner VAR intervenes and Kevin Friend points to the spot, though the original offence was surely outside the area. Ward-Prowse is never going to miss.

PUTTING THE GAME TO BEDNAREK

The response from West Ham is good. Three minutes' later Soucek finds Bowen, who wriggles down the right and pulls back for Benrahma to fire home. Surely we can now beat the team that can't hold a lead? Not with Soucek giving away a stupid foul on 70 minutes. Ward-Prowse plays in an excellent delivery and Bednarek rises above Dawson and Soucek to power home a glancing header and send the away fans into ecstacy.

"This is just like watching the old West Ham," suggests Nell, strangely reassured by the fact that we are back to being flaky. The Irons huff and puff for the remaining 20 minutes. "When has Yarmolenko ever done anything ever? What was the point of that, Masuaku?" exclaims the irate Vicar's Son, possibly in need of a relaxing trip to San Francisco.

An Antonio blocked shot and a few corners is as good as it gets and at the end Southampton celebrate like they've won a Champions' League Final. Fraser, Matt and myself find the empty Refreshment Rooms still open as Matt reminisces about a drug bust for a member of the Wombles, as you do. 

This was poor, and rather like a Pellegrini side. The loss of Cresswell, Zouma and Ogbonna would test any team, but reinforcements in defence and attack are needed and we'll do well to finish in the top eight. There was some hope in the second half performances of Bowen and Antonio but you can't concede three goals at home and win — unless you're Man City. 

At least we can put it right in two days against Watford in what is now a must-win game, though this is the game where our slump started to look like more than a blip.

PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 5, Dawson 5, Diop 5, Masuaku 5; Soucek 4, Rice 6, Benrahma 6 (Yarmolenko 5), Vlasic 5 (Antonio 7), Fornals 4 (Lanzini 6); Bowen 7.