West Ham erased a 1-0 deficit and a boo-inducing first-half performance, as they stormed back and beat Luton Town 3-1 at London Stadium on Saturday.
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The result all but confirms Luton (26 points - 18th place) will be relegated from the Premier League and head back to the EFL Championship next season. The Hatters trail Nottingham Forest, who play later on Saturday and are 13 goals better in the goal difference column, by three points with just one game left to play. West Ham (52 points - 9th) clinched a top-half finish with a very slim chance of catching Chelsea and Manchester United (54 points each, with two more games left to play) for a place in Europe next season.
Albert Sambi Lokongo put Luton ahead after just six minutes and the Hatters went toe to toe with the Hammers for the entirety of the first half. Perhaps David Moyes had some motivational words at halftime of his final home game as West Ham manager, because they looked a side reborn after the restart.
James Ward-Prowse equalized in the 54th minute and Tomas Soucek put West Ham ahead after nine more minutes. George Earthy came off the bench for just his second PL appearance in the 75th minute and scored the game’s final goal with his first touch a minute later. The 19-year-old academy product was stretchered off with a head injury just five minutes into his PL debut on April 14.
Luton Town entertained us like their Premier League lives depended on it
That Luton even had a (very real) path to beating relegation heading into matchweek 37 was a massive upset of the odds. At -300, they were the leading favorites to be relegated when the season began back in August. Under Rob Edwards, they have scored 50 goals in the Premier League this season (10 and 15 more than Burnley and Sheffield United, the other two relegated sides) and played like they backed themselves to beat every side they faced.
Leicester hit 51 goals en route to an 18th-place finish last season and Luton have 50 with a game still to play this season. Prior to them, the last relegated side to top 50 PL goals was Blackpool in 2010-11. The Hatters scored and conceded (there’s the catch, and ultimately the reason they’re going down) in 30 of 37 games so far, setting a new PL record in the process.
Moyes gets fitting farewell to career-rejuvenating tenure at West Ham
There’s been fair criticism of the way David Moyes has used world-class attacking talent this season at West Ham, as too often the counter-attacking Irons played like a side that didn’t understand they could be significantly better than the opposition.
But think about where Moyes and West Ham stood back in 2019 when he took over for the second time. Moyes had gone from an admired decade-plus at Everton to one-and-done at Manchester United, Real Sociedad, and Sunderland, the last of whom ended ugly on and off the pitch as he lost his temper with a reporter in an ugly incident. The Irons? Oof. They were in the relegation zone when Moyes was hired the first time to guide them to safety, then repeated the feat when Manuel Pellegrini had the team a point above the line in December 2019.
What followed was safety, then sixth place and seventh place. West Ham reached the Europa League semifinals under Moyes, then won the Conference League, and returned to the UEL semis to be cut down by a nearly-perfect Bayer Leverkusen in the quarterfinals. He did a remarkable job. Perhaps it’s fair to call time in order to persuade Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, and Mohammed Kudus that they can hit their attacking heights at this club, but a large of number of clubs shouldn’t hesitate to turn to the Scot as their next boss. — Nick Mendola
What’s next?
Luton will have one last go in the Premier League next Sunday (11 am ET), when they host Fulham at Kenilworth Road. West Ham might just have a front-row seat to Premier League title celebrations as they visit Manchester City.
Player ratings - West Ham vs Luton
West Ham vs Luton highlights, final score: 3-1
Goalscorers: Albert Sambi Lokonga (6'), James Ward-Prowse (54'), Tomas Soucek (65'), George Earthy (76')
GOAL - West Ham 3-1 Luton: George Earthy scores with his first touch off the bench
GOAL - West Ham 2-1 Luton: Tomas Soucek smashes a volley to put the Hammers ahead
GOAL - West Ham 1-1 Luton: James Ward-Prowse hammers a low strike through traffic
GOAL - West Ham 0-1 Luton: Lokonga heads home from point-blank range
West Ham starting lineup
Areola — Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Emerson — Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta — Bowen, Kudus, Antonio
Luton starting lineup
Kaminski — Burke, Mengi, Osho — Lokonga, Barkley, Onyedinma, Doughty — Morris, Chong, Adebayo
How to watch West Ham vs Luton Town live, stream link and start time
Kick off: 10am ET Saturday
TV Channel: USA Network
Online: Watch live online via NBC.com
West Ham focus, team news
OUT: Kalvin Phillips (calf) | QUESTIONABLE: Konstantinos Mavropanos (knock), Nayef Aguerd (foot)
Luton Town focus, team news
OUT: Chiedozie Ogbene (hamstring), Jacob Brown (knee), Tom Lockyer (heart), Dan Potts (thigh), Marvelous Nakamba (knee), Mads Andersen (calf), Amari’i Bell (thigh), Issa Kabore (ankle)
