West Ham striker Haller takes home top BBC goal prize for magnificent strike
Sebastien Haller has won the BBC December Goal of the Month award for his sensational overhead kick in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
The Ivory Coast international beat off competition from the likes of Liverpool forward Robert Firmino and Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung-min Son to receive the prestigious honour.
It was a goal that earned the Hammers a point at the London Stadium in the clash on December 16, after Christian Benteke had put the Eagles ahead at half-time.
The final results of the fan poll were shown on the BBC Sport website, with Haller pulling in 20% of the voting, just ousting Son’s 17%.
Match of the Day 2 (03/01/20) host Mark Chapman said there was “no disputing that was the winner” as he revealed Haller was the winner.
West Ham have lost only one in four games since that draw against Palace, picking up seven points to sit 10th in the Premier League table.
Failure to kick on could prove costly for Haller
That spectacular goal against Palace has proved to be Haller’s shining highlight of a season where the striker has failed to capitalise on the extra opportunities handed to him in the absence of star man Michail Antonio.
Haller has not scored since that Palace goal, meaning he is without a goal in his last four games and only has one to his name in his previous eight appearances.
With a tally of three goals in 16 Premier League games Haller is certainly not pulling up any trees and the second half substitution of Antonio for him in Friday’s 1-0 win at Everton looks like an ominous sign.
That was Antonio’s second successive outing from the bench since making his injury return after a long layoff which has seen the 30-year-old make only one appearance in nine games.
Time looks to be running out for Haller to secure his status as the number one striker in the West Ham team, with last season’s top scorer Antonio set to return to the starting XI in the coming fixtures.
In other West Ham news, see our exclusive with Frank McAvennie on the potential return of a former Hammers favourite.