West Ham's 3-0 win over Derby was their second home victory in the space of five days, but the game was less decisive than the scoreline suggests. Joël Piroe scored after just six minutes, West Ham then went flat, and Derby were still close enough to believe a point might be within reach before the 80th minute.
West Ham's flat spell after the opening goal
The start should have set the tone. Piroe's early goal gave West Ham a lead to work with, yet the match never really settled into a one-way procession. Derby stayed in touch for long stretches, and Sky Sports' match report captured the feel of it well: “Two late goals underscored West Ham's second home victory in the space of five days and a 3-0 win over Derby that was less decisive than the scoreline suggests.”
That lines up with West Ham's recent league form too. Their run of WLLLW has been mixed, so this result looks more like another sharp spell in an uneven stretch than proof that everything has clicked at once. Jarrod Bowen was still involved in the danger moments, and his recent 8.3 rating underlined why West Ham kept leaning on him before the bench made the difference.
Austbo and Kanté finish the job
The turning point came from the substitutes. Edvin Austbø signed for £10million from Norwegian club Viking on transfer deadline day, and he made an immediate case for himself by turning the ball home for a debut goal after Bowen miscued his shot from an Arne Engels cross.
Soon after, Mohamadou Kanté made it 3-0 with a rasping low shot from outside the area. The 20-year-old academy product had not just padded the score, he had closed a game that Derby had kept alive far longer than West Ham would have liked.
West Ham will take the clean sheet and the second home win in five days, but the cleaner lesson is that the result only became comfortable late on. The next test is whether the starters can carry more of the attacking weight when the score is still tight.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
