FT: West Ham 4-2 Burnley - Anderson’s brace leads offensive explosion for Hammers

It was a top offensive display for West Ham United, as they defeated Burnley 4-2 Saturday at the London Stadium to begin their play in the month of November.

Manuel Pellegrini was certainly delighted with the attacking array of play from his side, as the Hammers made it a long two hours for former goalkeeper Joe Hart and his backline. From the start, West Ham set the tempo in being the more aggressive side. And that positive mindset was rewarded, when Marko Arnautovic coerced an error out of James Tarkowski and punished it with a 10th minute finish for the match’s opening goal.

West Ham dominated the first half and Felipe Anderson was denied by a tremendous clearance from Ben Mee, preventing it from being 2-0 Hammers. But they had another inexplicable moment defensively, when they allowed Burnley to level just before halftime through Johann Gudmundsson.

The Hammers regain the lead in the second half, with great play from youngsters Grady Diangana setting up Anderson, who finished superbly in the 68th minute. But Burnley responded again to level for a second time, as Chris Wood capitalized off of poor set piece defending in the 77th minute.

Pellegrini’s men finally were able to put away Burnley though in the end, as Anderson got his first Premier League brace with a deflected goal serving as the match winner in the 84th minute. And the Hammers sealed a satisfying three points, when substitute Javier Hernandez finished past Joe Hart in stoppage time.

West Ham’s quality offensive performance (and hopefully better defensive performance) has a chance to continue next Saturday, when they are at bottom side and rudderless Huddersfield.