West Ham 2-3 Southampton: Three first-half goals end Hammers’ nine-match unbeaten Championship run

West Ham’s nine-match unbeaten Championship run ended with a 3-2 defeat by Southampton at the London Stadium, where three first-half goals left the hosts with too much to recover.

Kuryu Matsuki and James Bree put Southampton two ahead inside 11 minutes. Kyle Walker-Peters pulled one back, but Lewis Dobbin restored the visitors’ cushion before the interval.

Tomáš Souček’s stoppage-time goal gave West Ham late hope, but Southampton held on to take all three points.

Southampton strike twice inside 11 minutes

West Ham entered the game after consecutive away victories over Lincoln and Swansea, part of the unbeaten sequence discussed in Nuno Espírito Santo’s pre-match assessment.

That momentum quickly came under pressure. Matsuki opened the scoring in the second minute and Bree doubled Southampton’s advantage nine minutes later.

Walker-Peters reduced the deficit in the 24th minute, with Divine Mukasa providing the assist. Yet West Ham’s opportunity to build on that response lasted only ten minutes: Dobbin scored Southampton’s third in the 34th minute, sending the visitors into half-time 3-1 ahead.

Souček’s late goal cannot rescue West Ham

Nuno introduced Oliver Scarles for Morato at half-time, then brought on Souček and Pablo in the 63rd minute.

Souček eventually supplied West Ham’s second goal in the third minute of added time, assisted by Valentín Castellanos. By then, the hosts had left themselves little time to find an equaliser.

The full-time match record shows West Ham finished with 28 shots to Southampton’s 15 and 56% possession.

More shots, but an early deficit proved decisive

Those totals offer only part of the explanation. FotMob’s expected-goals figures were almost level: 1.52 for West Ham and 1.55 for Southampton.

On that measure, West Ham’s greater volume of attempts did not translate into a clear advantage in chance quality. Southampton’s early lead also shaped the contest, leaving the hosts chasing for almost the entire afternoon.

For West Ham, the immediate setback is clear. The unbeaten run is over, and conceding three times before half-time proved too costly to repair.

Read our West Ham–Southampton preview for the build-up and follow our West Ham United coverage for further reaction.