West Ham goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen pulled off an inspired performance to earn the London club a share of the spoils away from home against Southampton.
Both teams came into this match with four points after their first three games of the new campaign, and this showed in a tentative opening 45 minutes.
Italian striker Daniel Osvaldo picked up Southampton’s best chance of the first-half, forcing a smart low save to the bottom left of Jääskeläinen.
The home side’s front four of Osvaldo, Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and captain Adam Lallana linked well and looked dangerous giving the visitors defence a torrid afternoon, looking the more likely to break the deadlock.
The second-half saw more pressure from Southampton with Osvaldo showing good touches and Lambert rattling the crossbar from a Lallana corner, before having another effort destined for the top corner saved by the Hammer’s keeper.
In a wet and windy afternoon at St. Mary’s the home fans would have been happy with their teams performance but could only watch as Jaaskelainen pulled off impressive saves to deny Dani Osvaldo, Rickie Lambert and Morgan Schneiderlin as the Hammers withstood waves of Saints pressure.
West Ham’s James Collins had a glorious chance to snatch an unlikely victory late on, but ballooned his effort over the bar, forcing both sides to settle for a draw.
Big Sam will be the happier of the two managers with his team on the back foot for most of the 90 minutes.
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