Written by : Emily Pulham

West Ham United’s season finally took flight with a deserved 3-1 win at Vicarage Road, against a Watford side that had yet to find a point, much less the back of the net prior to the match. 

Long-time Hammers Captain Mark Noble started his first game of the season, and it didn’t take long for him to impact on the game, and for West Ham to take the lead. Abdoulaye Doucoure, also a recent return from injury, fouled Manuel Lanzini in the box in the first minute of the game to slow down a blistering early attack on goal – and Mark Noble stepped up to convert the penalty in just the third minute.

Unfortunately, it took just 14 minutes for Watford to score an equaliser, as a Will Hughes pass set up Andre Gray to score Watford’s first goal of the season.

It was all square at half-time, but West Ham came out stronger after the break. With the substitution of Michail Antonio for Andriy Yarmolenko shortly after the break, West Ham suddenly seemed a different team – and less than ten minutes later, record signing Sebastien Haller scored his first league goal for the club after tapping in a Felipe Anderson cut-back. 

His second followed in the 73rd minute, with a fantastic overhead kick in the box from a corner. 

Although the Hammers had less possession than the Hornets, they did more with their time on the ball, registering ten shots on target to Watford’s three. 

It’s a strong 3 points for the Hammers to have earned, and fans will walk away delighted that Haller is settling in and scoring goals.