West Ham strike hammer blow to Leeds’ survival bid as Lanzini caps comeback

This was an abject, pitiful surrender from Leeds United. At times it was as if they mistook themselves for a team sitting pretty in mid-table, rather than one needing to fight for the win that would give them control of their destiny going into the final day of the season.

There was no sign of quality or defiance during a wretched second half from Leeds. There was merely disgust from Sam Allardyce, who spat out his chewing gum and kicked it away when he saw another move break down. Allardyce, who has taken one point from his first three games, could not believe what he was watching.

Leeds were gutless and their players could hardly complain when the few fans left in the away end turning on them at the end of a defeat by West Ham who were supposed to be thinking about playing Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final next month.

Perhaps Leeds did not think they would have to fight for the points. They led early, Rodrigo opening the scoring, but West Ham played with integrity. Safe from relegation, they fought back with goals from Declan Rice, Jarrod Bowen and Manuel Lanzini, and Leeds had missed a chance to move out of the bottom three before hosting Tottenham on Sunday. They will have to hope that Bournemouth do them a favour by winning at Everton on the same day.

The worry for Everton and Leicester was that West Ham would have nothing left in the tank after their dramatic win against AZ Alkmaar. The joy of reaching the Conference League final was always going to take a toll and, while David Moyes tried to guard against fatigue by making six changes, the early signs were not encouraging for the sides battling with Leeds.

It was not long before Rice was urging West Ham’s defence to wake up. They were being caught out by simple balls over the top and were fortunate not to concede from a low Patrick Bamford cross, with Rodrigo misreading it. Leeds were causing problems simply by playing the percentages and would go close again when Jack Harrison, who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season, tested Lukasz Fabianski with a sharp volley.

Allardyce had made only two changes, Pascal Struijk replacing the suspended Junior Firpo at left-back and the steely Adam Forshaw coming in for Sam Greenwood in midfield, and the plan appeared to be working when the visitors went ahead in the 17th minute.

Leeds’s goalscorer Rodrigo looks dejected after West Ham take a 2-1 lead. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The goal could not have been more Allardycian: a throw-in deep on the left flank, a mass of bodies in the West Ham area, Weston McKennie hurling the ball into the air. Cue the battle. Players from both sides leapt for the header, everyone missed it, and Rodrigo silenced the home fans by holding off Angelo Ogbonna and smashing a brilliant volley past Fabianski.

Throw-in, volley: could there possibly be a simple route to goal? The ignominy stung West Ham, especially as they had conceded in similar fashion against Brentford last weekend. Wary of a rollocking from Moyes, they began to play. Joel Robles denied Tomas Soucek after a clever corner.

The strain of trying to keep a first clean sheet since 25 February began to show on Leeds. They were vulnerable in wide areas and West Ham soon put together a lovely move. The ingenuity came from Pablo Fornals after he took a pass from Bowen. The Spaniard, West Ham’s goalscorer in Alkmaar, scooped a beautiful pass over Struijk and Bowen lifted the ball across for Rice to mark the sixth anniversary of his professional debut by equalising with a composed finish at the far post.

Much has changed since an 18-year-old Rice came off the bench in a win over Burnley in 2017. The midfielder is likely to leave this summer and this may well have been his last home game for West Ham. Nobody, though, can accuse Rice of letting his focus drift. He is still driving this team on and his goal led to a period of dominance from the hosts, Robles denying them a second when he smothered an effort from Emerson Palmieri.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Football Daily

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Leeds were beginning to panic. Bamford limped off after the equaliser, Wilfried Gnonto coming on, and Allardyce would turn away in irritation after Harrison failed to punish an error from Kurt Zouma just before half-time.

West Ham, who replaced Zouma with Thilo Kehrer during the interval, looked more assertive. Lucas Paquetá tested Robles at the start of the second half and Danny Ings saw a goal-bound effort blocked.

Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?Show

Thank you for your feedback.

There was no urgency from Leeds. West Ham were on top, Soucek forcing Robles to push a header over. Leeds could not get anything going. Even the sight of Allardyce screaming at his players when another move broke down had little effect.

It was not long before West Ham were rewarded for their dominance, Bowen timing his run well and beating Robles with a cute finish after a fine pass from Ings. Leeds got what they deserved. They produced a brief rally and the substitute Crysencio Summerville was denied an equaliser by Emerson. Yet it was too little too late, and that is likely to be the story of Leeds’s season. They had the sinking feeling when Paquetá danced past Rasmus Kristensen and teed up Lanzini for West Ham’s third goal in stoppage time.