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Andy Carroll’s header ended a West Ham winless run that dated back to 24 October, the day when Jose Mourinho was sent to the Upton Park stands.
On that occasion, Carroll also came off the bench to provide a header that sealed a 2-1 victory. Curiously, both that goal and his one today came in the 79th minute.
West Ham fans had little to cheer about in the intervening period, although the previous five games had all been draws. So poor were they in the first half that Slaven Bilic’s players, trailing to Carl Jenkinson’s own goal, were booed off.
On came Carroll to act as a focal point in attack and Manuel Lanzini to add guile in the build-up and instantly Southampton, who beat Arsenal 4-0 on Boxing Day, were on the back foot. True, Michail Antonio’s 69th-minute equaliser was nothing but a fluke as Victor Wanyama’s attempted clearance went in off him as he lay on the turf, having been toppled by a challenge that would in all probability have led to a penalty. But Southampton could not cope with Antonio or Carroll, with the latter in the right place after the former’s header came back off the bar 11 minutes from time
“It was the players who changed the game around,” said Bilic afterwards. “We can talk about what I said at half-time but then you could ask me what I said before the game for us to play that badly. I asked them to go out and give something to the game because it couldn’t be any worse. We got our reward and we totally deserved it.”
Carroll, sporting an extraordinary braided hairstyle that made it look like he had an armadillo on his head, was pleased to have made a contribution on the latest of his regular returns from injury.
“It was great to get out there and get the winner,” he said. “If I keep scoring then it [the hairstyle] is going to stay. We have had some difficult results but we have got players coming back from injury, so 2016 is looking positive.”
The setback was frustrating for Ronald Koeman, who must fear the Arsenal result, which ended a six-game winless run, was a red herring. “It’s not so difficult to explain because we spoke at half-time about what we could expect in the second – a more aggressive opponent with Carroll on the pitch,” the Saints manager said.
“If you play good football in the first 45 minutes and you don’t score two or three goals and you don’t kill the game, then you can expect this.”
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