West Ham Boss David Moyes Insists Lanzini Did Nothing Wrong After Winning Penalty Against Stoke

West Ham manager David Moyes has defended Manuel Lanzini against suggestions that the player went down too easily to win the penalty in their victory against Stoke City.

The Hammers claimed a 3-0 win over Stoke at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday. A first-half penalty from Mark Noble and two more goals from Marko Arnautovic and Diafra Sakho late on in the match saw West Ham to a comfortable three points. 

As a result, the Hammers climbed out of the relegation zone into 15th place in the Premier League table, which moved them above Stoke in the process.

However, the home side weren't happy with the decision in the game to award West Ham a penalty, as they felt Hammers' star Manuel Lanzini went down far too easily.

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Speaking after the game, David Moyes defended Lanzini and believes that Stoke's Erik Pieters gave the referee a decision to make with his tackle. According to Sky Sports, the 54-year-old said that: "I thought the defender gave the referee a decision to make. 

"I think Manu [Lanzini] has run about 60 or 70 yards with it. I think he is just going down with fatigue. I don't think he has done anything wrong."

The West Ham boss also went on to credit his side's performance, but also suggests that they should have scored more. He continued by saying that: "If you think about the games we have had and the performances we have needed, we were always a bit worried about the energy.

"We had a day less to recover after the Arsenal game, but we did the basics well, defended well, and on another day we should have had more. I told him [Arnautovic] at half-time I was annoyed with him, he should have scored two. I told him if he kept up he'd score in the second half. He probably had three or four chances and should have come away with the matchball. 

"He's beginning to become a really important player for us. I'd still like to get him up to even higher levels but his work-rate has been phenomenal. It was just a really good performance and three really good goals."