European hopefuls West Ham United moved closer to the Champions League places on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Hull City at Upton Park.
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The result sent the Hammers up to seventh with 36 points from 22 games, just four behind fourth-placed Manchester United.
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After the visitors had battled manfully in the opening period, in-form Andy Carroll opened the scoring for West Ham with a simple finish in the 49th minute.
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Substitute Morgan Amalfitano and the impressive Stuart Downing then applied neat finishes within three minutes of each other as West Ham reignited their top-four challenge with a first league victory since December 20.
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West Ham have more points at this stage of a Premier League campaign than ever before while Hull are 18th, level with Queens Park Rangers and just two points above bottom-of-the-table Leicester City.
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“Today we deserved it,” Carroll told Sky Sports. “Obviously the first half wasn’t a great performance from us but we came out in the second half and got the early goal and created a lot more chances.”
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After four Premier League games without a win for West Ham, the visit of goal-shy Hull provided an ideal opportunity to reignite their season.
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It was the visitors, however, who made the better start.
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With several first-choice forwards injured, diminutive Nigeria international Sone Aluko was tasked with leading Hull’s attack and his pace and skill should have yielded an early goal.
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He ghosted through the West Ham defence twice in the opening five minutes before a clever cut-back was scuffed wide by Ahmed Elmohamady in the sixth.
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West Ham slowly grew into the game and went close through Aaron Cresswell and Enner Valencia before James Tomkins headed over from close range.
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Hull looked lively at the other end and missed a great chance when Aluko again drove at the Hammers defence before opting to pass rather than shoot with the goal beckoning.
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Hull’s already injury-ravaged squad received another blow when defender James Chester was helped off with a dislocated shoulder.
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The second half saw West Ham reassert themselves, with Valencia’s speculative shot parried by goalkeeper Allan McGregor and Carroll bundling home the loose ball.
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Valencia had a goal ruled offside and substitute Amalfitano then doubled the lead with a delightful chip after 69 minutes.
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Three minutes later Alex Song split Hull’s defence with a fantastic pass and Downing, on-on-one with McGregor, applied the routine finish.
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