Ian Wright calls out James Ward-Prowse in West Ham United loss v Manchester City
Ian Wright has called out West Ham United midfielder James Ward-Prowse for not getting tight enough to Phil Foden in the 3-1 loss against Manchester City.
Foden scored inside the opening two minutes before adding a second in the 18th minute to put City on their way to a victory that sealed their historic fourth successive Premier League title.
But Wright feels that Ward-Prowse reacted “too late” in the build-up to the champions’ early opener.
Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day [19 May], he said: “He was fantastic today, Phil Foden. Very, very difficult to pick up, he was, but I think – the form he’s in – you couldn’t pick him up anyway.
“Ward-Prowse is too late. It’s too late, the way he’s playing, you have to be tighter on him than that because there’s hardly any backlift on [his strike], and that [early goal] just settled everything down.”
West Ham United unable to affect the title race
Despite West Ham’s best efforts, they were unable to earn a result that would create some drama in the title race between City and Arsenal – Pep Guardiola’s men would have been at risk of losing the league on the final day had they dropped points – as well as send departing manager David Moyes off on a high note.
Mohammed Kudus’ brilliant bicycle kick shortly before the break put the Hammers within touching distance of a draw until Rodri restored City’s two-goal cushion just before the hour mark.
In truth, though, Guardiola’s side were simply too sharp and too quick for Moyes’ men across the 90 minutes, recording 71 per cent possession and an xG of 2.04 to West Ham’s 0.36 [FotMob].
Hammers fans will now look forward to a new era under likely incoming head coach Julen Lopetegui as they long for matches in which they do to other teams what City did to them at the Etihad.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has urged the Hammers to sign two players in same position.
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