West Ham 2-2 West Brom: McAuley late goal caps off a wild one

Both West Ham and West Brom fittingly have “West” in their club names, as they produced a wild, wild west ending that lead to a dramatic 2-2 draw Saturday at the London Stadium.

Manuel Lanzini terrific hit in the 86th minute appeared to have given West Ham the late win over West Brom, only for Gareth McAuley to score a last minute header in stoppage time from the returning Jonny Evans’ deflection to prevent Slaven Bilic’s side from consecutive comeback victories (the goal was initially given to Evans, but later changed to McAuley after the match).

West Brom opened the scoring when their record signing Nacer Chadli secured his third goal against the Hammers this season and - strangely enough - scored in the eighth minute just like he did in their 4-2 over the London club back in September.

But the Hammers defense did not collapse as they did at the Hawthorns, and showed great mental strength once again. Lanzini was a major factor in the first equalizer, when he produced a great attempt on goal with his stronger right foot hitting the crossbar, only for Sofiane Feghouli to tap in the rebound.

West Ham will now have a two week break, and a team trip to Dubai, before their next match, thanks to the FA Cup fifth round being next weekend (they were eliminated by Manchester City from the Cup competition early January). The Hammers will face off against Watford next in the league on February 25th.