Norwich City vs West Ham United. Premier League.
Carrow Road.
Report and free match highlights as Norwich's relegation is confirmed after West Ham thrashing
Saturday 11 July 2020 19:17, UK
Michail Antonio produced a sensational performance for West Ham as he scored every goal in a 4-0 win against Norwich, condemning them to relegation.
The forward began his incredible scoring spree in the 11th minute, firing home from close range after a corner, and added another from at set-piece just before the break, nodding home a Mark Noble free-kick (45+1).
He rounded off his first professional hat-trick in the 54th minute after looping a header past Tim Krul, adding another for fun later in the half when he flicked home inside the six yard box (74) to round off a memorable afternoon.
It will not be one Norwich will want to remember, though, as the result sees the Canaries relegated back to the Sky Bet Championship, remaining rock bottom of the table and now 13 points off fourth-bottom Watford, who beat Newcastle 2-1 in an early kick-off. West Ham are six points clear of the drop zone, a place above Watford,
Antonio looked bright from the start and linked up well with Tomas Soucek in the opening exchanges. Inside four minutes, Antonio darted between two Norwich defenders to slot the ball in for Soucek at the near post, but the Czech could only find the side of the net. Antonio once again found his team-mate a few minutes later, cutting the ball to the top of the area, but Soucek's strike was tame and went past the post.
West Ham capitalised on a strong start with an 11th-minute goal. Just before, Antonio had forced a save from Krul at the near post and, after the first corner was cleared, Jarrod Bowen lined up a second. His delivery was glanced on by the head of Issa Diop, landing to Antonio, who smashed the effort home from close range.
But Norwich had their chances too. Just before the drinks break, Jamal Lewis was set away down the left flank and his cross was met by the head of Teemu Pukki, but his placed effort went past the post. Lewis was involved again not long after as Onel Hernandez picked him out, but his return ball to the winger could only be put past the post.
West Ham ended the half strongly though, and forced an acrobatic save from Krul as Soucek fired a volley his way, but the Norwich goalkeeper leaped to keep him out. However, there was little he could do about West Ham's second in the first minute of added time. It was another set-piece goal as Noble floated a free-kick in from the left flank, with Antonio ahead of two Norwich players to glance a powerful header home.
Nine minutes after the break, Antonio completed his first professional hat-trick. It was a wonderful ball over the top from Noble which allowed his team-mate to drive away from the Norwich centre-backs and Ben Godfrey scrambling to get back. Antonio's first effort was saved by a valiant Krul before he looped the rebound into the back of the net with his head.
The third goal was a sucker punch for Norwich, who knew there was little way back into the game and the second half did not see as many chances. However, Antonio was in the mood for another and scored his cutest goal of the afternoon in the 74th minute.
It was another lovely pass from Noble as he found Ryan Fredericks down the right flank, with the full-back leaving substitute Lukas Rupp on the floor. He cut into the area before finding the waiting Antonio with a neat pass, who flicked the ball past Krul for a fourth time and condemned Norwich to relegation.
There's not much explaining needed for this one! It's hard to find any more adjectives for how good Antonio was on Saturday. He was a menace from the off and the bubbling talent he has been showing over the last few games finally came bursting out.
He took each goal wonderfully well, even in the tightest of spaces, and had a total of nine shots, six of which were on target and four goals.
The win has ultimately sealed West Ham's place in the Premier League for another season and Antonio should get a big pat on the back for helping drive them over the line.
Norwich manager Daniel Farke: "It's a disappointing day with the harsh loss but even more because today is also the day where relegation is finally confirmed. It's not like it comes unexpectedly or not that we weren't prepared for it, but once it is confirmed, it feels even more disappointing. For that, it's a tough day today.
"The first step is always to look at yourself and ask what could have been done better. It's not an unexpected outcome and the first day after promotion, I said was had between a two and five per cent chance to stay in the league without being able to spend money.
"I feel really sorry for our supporters and everyone who's connected with this amazing club that we were not able to work another miracle. I'm in a responsible role so I'm disappointed that I was not able to do that… We were hoping again to beat the odds and to work on another miracle but you have to say in this year, we were not capable of doing this.
"For that, we can only apologise and I feel sorry for the supporters because they are all there with so much passion and emotion for this club and so much support, even in the bad times. They deserve all the joy and all the miracles we can bring them… so it is definitely a disappointing day."
West Ham manager David Moyes: "It was such a big result but also such a big performance. The big result obviously comes from scoring four goals and keeping a clean sheet. I don't think it would have been out of place if we had scored a few more but I'm more than happy with the way we performed today and the way the players went about the job.
"He's [Antonio] been excellent. We've been without Seb Haller and we've been really limited with some of our options in that position, but I think Michail is developing with it. He's gotten better with his link-up play, he's powerful, he can do a lot of good things and he possibly should have scored another one or two in midweek as well. Today has been a good day for him and really good that he got the goals in - not many people do score four goals in a Premier League match.
"I thought we played well from the start of the game today but the players were made aware that we have to keep our standards high. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get more out of the game in midweek but I thought today we were very good. Right from the first minute, the players went about the job correctly, made it difficult for Norwich and we got our rewards from that."
Sky Sports' Nick Wright:
Norwich's relegation felt inevitable long before Saturday's defeat by West Ham. Daniel Farke's side were only six points adrift of safety when the lockdown came into force. The gap was not insurmountable, but the players seemed resigned to the drop when the season resumed.
Their fate owes a lot to a lack of experience.
Norwich's squad contains an abundance of young talent in Todd Cantwell, Emi Buendia, Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis and Ben Godfrey. But all five of those players were new to the English top flight and they were not the only ones. Of Norwich's older heads, only Tim Krul and Alexander Tettey had any meaningful Premier League experience behind them.
The lack of knowhow was particularly apparent in defence. Norwich's most-used back four - Aarons, Christophe Zimmermann, Godfrey and Lewis - had an average age of under 23, making it the youngest in the division this season.
It is little wonder they were so often overwhelmed by more streetwise opponents, West Ham being just the latest.
Norwich were operating on a budget far smaller than those of their rivals, of course.
Their emphasis on youth was a commendable approach. But the sharp end of the Premier League can be an unforgiving place for new arrivals. Norwich found that out the hard way.
Norwich will travel to Chelsea next on Tuesday evening, live on Sky Sports (kick-off 8.15pm). For West Ham, it's another relegation battle when they welcome Watford on Friday, also live on Sky Sports (kick-off 8pm).
