Southampton have mocked Watford on X after West Ham loanee Flynn Downes scored a late winner for the Saints despite the ball appearing to strike his arm.
The Saints claimed a 3-2 victory at St Mary’s, with Downes striking in the ninth minute of stoppage time after Ryan Porteous and Ismael Kone cancelled out Will Smallbone and Che Adams’ first-half strikes.
Watford posted on their official X account as the winning goal went in, pointing out that there appeared to be a handball in the build-up.
Southampton retorted with an image of Abdoulaye Doucoure handling the ball ahead of scoring in a 2-2 draw with the Saints in the Premier League in January 2018.
Flynn Downes stakes case for West Ham United return
Downes’ goal – albeit controversial – capped off an outstanding performance from the on-loan midfielder.
The strength of his display was far from an isolated incident – Downes has been a quality operator for promotion-chasing Southampton for the entirety of the season.
Should he continue in this vein through to the end of the campaign, West Ham may well consider giving him another chance in the first team ahead of 2024/25.
Particularly with Kalvin Phillips’ loan move failing to work out for all parties, a spot in the squad alongside Edson Alvarez, Tomas Soucek and James Ward-Prowse is set to open up, given how unlikely a permanent move is for the Manchester City midfielder.
Given the scale of the overhaul expected to take place at the club this summer, an internal solution to a problem position could help the Hammers a great deal.
Whether it is David Moyes or a new face in the dugout, if Downes performs in pre-season the way he has so far, he can do his chances of a West Ham spot no harm.
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