West Ham United 3-0 Charlton Athletic: David Moyes' men progress through in a controlled manner

The Hammers have started their EFL Cup campaign with a comfortable win at the London Stadium.

 West Ham United 3-0 Charlton Athletic: David Moyes' men progress through in a controlled manner
(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
alan-rzepa
By Alan Rzepa

After a very poor start to their Premier League season, West Ham United have turned their form around in an EFL Cup tie against Charlton Athletic.

A first-half brace from Sebastien Haller settled the mood for the rest of the evening as Felipe Anderson's tidy finish set the final scoreline.

  • Story of the game

The first chance of the game came after 11 minutes, as a corner taken by Robert Snodgrass was put into the back of the net by Andriy Yarmolenko, but the referee ruled the goal out for a foul.

Five minutes later, Snodgrass and Haller were presented with two successive chances, but their efforts just missed Charlton's goal.

And just after two more minutes, Haller got his first goal of the game after a great pass from Josh Cullen released Yarmolenko who squared it to the Frenchman for an easy tap-in.

Immediately after, the club's record signing got his second of the game with a towering header after a great gross from Snodgrass.

Two minutes later, Arthur Masuaku, who had a fantastic game, put in a brilliant cross but just out of Haller's reach, who could've had his own 7-minute hat-trick.

Charlton's first and only dangerous chance of the first-half came in the 30th minute after a good shot from Johnny Williams was dropped by Darren Randolph.

At the end of the half Masuaku nearly scored West Ham's third goal of the evening but his first effort was saved and the other narrowly missed the goal.

After the break, the first two chances came to Charlton through Williams again and a header from Fabian Balbuena which just narrowly missed Randolph's goal.

The visitors had a good spell but the Hammers quickly managed to get back the control of the possession.

A great passing play between Anderson, Lanzini, Snodgrass and Haller was nearly finished by Yarmolenko, but a late challenge from one of the defenders was enough to but the winger off.

Ben Jonhson nearly won a penalty for his side as his cross was quite clearly blocked with a hand by one of the defenders, but Andre Marriner, tonight's referee, said no.

​​​​​​​Anderson, who alongside Lanzini, was brilliant in the second half tried getting a goal of his own but his effort was blocked after Yarmolenko's shot rebounded to him.

​​​​​​​But shortly after the Brazilian got what he wanted and after some great work from Lanzini, he's slotted the ball from the edge of the area just beyond the goalkeeper's reach.

The Hammers could've had another pen as Haller was stood in a great opportunity to get his hat-trick after a brilliant pass from Anderson, but his shot was blocked by an arm of an oncoming defender.

​​​​​​​Again, Marriner said no, which was another poor decision from the experienced referee.

  •  Takeaways

After two very different line-ups and equally different performances, West Ham's manager, David Moyes, will have to seriously think about the team he'll want to put out on Saturday, against Arsenal FC.

Poor showings from Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Mark Noble against Newcastle United now look even worse given tonight's performances from Arthur Masuaku, Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini and Josh Cullen.