MATCH REPORT | West Ham 1-1 Lille: Olivier Giroud’s moment of magic cancelled out by Niclas Füllkrug | OneFootball

Lille OSC travelled to the London Stadium to face West Ham United in their final preseason game before the start of the Ligue 1 season next weekend. There were some familiar faces in the Premier League side’s starting lineup, as former OGC Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo and former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Alphonse Areola took to the field. For Lille, new signing Romain Perraud was immediately thrust into the action at left-back, while Bafodé Diakité was named on the bench despite an uncertain future.

West Ham threatened early on when Jarrod Bowen picked Alexsandro’s pocket, the forward slipped into the box and fired a threatening shot from a tight angle, testing Arnaud Bodart’s reflexes. Lille quickly settled into the game and looked the more dangerous side, with Aïssa Mandi, Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, Marius Broholm, and Perraud, all coming close without delivering the goods. It would take Olivier Giroud on the stroke of half-time to break the deadlock. In a sublime moment, the former France international controlled a long ball from Benjamin André with his chest before pivoting and volleying the ball into the top right corner.

Bowen came close immediately after the break, when the forward slipped in between Nathan Ngoy and Alexsandro. However, he couldn’t get his shot to sneak between the posts, and it trickled wide. Niclas Füllkrug came agonisingly close to levelling the scores when he got on the end of an inch-perfect Aaron Wan-Bissaka cross, but he could only watch as his headed effort was stopped by an acrobatic one-handed save from Bodart. Nayef Aguerd was the next to come close as he leapt highest to meet James Ward-Prowse’s corner delivery, but again Lille were let off.

Their luck would eventually run out as Lille made several mistakes on the ball, beginning with Bodart (who until this point had been flawless) and ending with Ousmane Touré. The fullback underhit his pass under pressure, which Bowen leapt onto. The forward found Füllkrug in the box, and his strike partner hit a neat shot to level the scores. An even result for an even game, but…

To the groan of the crowd, it would take penalties before this friendly could be decided. Füllkrug saw the first effort saved; however, West Ham were flawless following this, scoring the next five. Lille scored their first four, but misses from Nathan Ngoy and Lilian Baret would settle the affair.

West Ham lineup: Alphonse Areola; El Hadji Malick Diouf, Nayef Aguerd, Maximilian Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo (Tomáš Souček, ‘75), Aaron Wan-Bissaka; Lucas Paqueta (Guido Rodríguez, ‘75), Freddie Potts (Kyle Walker Peters, ‘75), James Ward-Prowse; Niclas Füllkrug, Jarrod Bowen.

Lille OSC lineup: Arnaud Bodard; Romain Perruad (Isaac Cossier, ‘66), Alexsandro, Nathan Ngoy, Aïssa Mandi (Ousmane Touré, ‘38); Benjamin André (Ayyoub Bouaddi, ‘78), Ngal’ayel Mukau; Félix Correia (Lilian Baret, ‘84), Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, Marius Broholm (Osame Sahraoui, ‘78); Olivier Giroud (Soriba Diaoune, ‘84).

GFFN | Nick Hartland – Reporting from London Stadium, London