West Bromwich Albion 4-2 West Ham United

West Brom record signing Chadli score twice and assisted twice in his home debut

West Ham's poor start to the season continued as they suffered a fourth league defeat, going down 4-2 to West Brom at the Hawthorns.

In their first game under new Chinese ownership, Albion raced into a 4-0 lead after an hour with record-signing Nacer Chadli scoring twice.

But West Ham then scored two in four minutes to halve the deficit.

Michail Antonio netted his fifth league goal of the season but the Baggies held on for a first home win since March.

• Relive West Brom and West Ham's six-goal thriller

The Hammers' latest defeat came on the back of last week's 4-2 loss to Watford, a game they had led 2-0 at one stage.

But they were behind after just eight minutes at the Hawthorns, with Chadli scoring a penalty after a needless handball from Arthur Masuaku.

Salomon Rondon fired in a crisp second and James McClean put the home side 3-0 up just before half-time - deflecting in a Chadli shot - as West Ham registered just one first-half shot on target, despite a far superior percentage of possession.

A fourth from Chadli after a Rondon break gave the Baggies a first four-goal haul in the league under Tony Pulis.

Antonio's effort and a Manuel Lanzini penalty gave the visiting fans hope of a revival, while Wales striker Hal Robson-Kanu came off the bench late on, making his first appearance for West Brom since joining on transfer deadline day.

Hammers' horror show

West Ham shipped four goals for a second successive week as their defence toiled again.

Left-back Arthur Masuaku was the most obvious culprit, inexplicably conceding a penalty with a handball under no pressure.

West Brom winger Matt Phillips enjoyed plenty of success against the Frenchman and was showboating before half-time.

Rondon's goal came from a poor clearance, as did McClean's, and Hammers boss - and former centre-half - Slavan Bilic looked mortified in the dugout at his team's porous display.

Despite having almost three-quarters of the possession, Bilic's side struggled to create any meaningful chances in the first half, with Simone Zaza isolated up front.

The manager's changes at half-time worked well, though, with Jonathan Calleri and Sofiane Feghouli providing more attacking impetus, but as West Ham pushed for a way back into the game, they were susceptible to the counter-attack, as Rondon proved in sprinting clear to set up Chadli unselfishly for his second.

A new era at West Brom?

The Baggies long-awaited takeover by a Chinese investment group was completed on Thursday and Tony Pulis committed his future to the club, saying the only way he would leave the club is if he were sacked.

Pulis, 58, was disappointed by the previous board's failure to land some of his preferred transfer targets this summer - but he must be delighted with his most expensive one.

Belgium midfielder Chadli joined from Tottenham and he has already begun to repay the hefty fee, reported to be £13m, with two goals and two assists on his home debut.

West Brom right-wing Matt Phillips gave Hammers left-back Arthur Masuaku a torrid afternoon - hugging the flank and delivering six crosses, the most for West Brom and the second highest in the game after Dimitri Payet.

With James McClean and the impressive Phillips also playing behind lone striker Rondon, West Brom played with width and pace and despite little possession they had more shots on target with six to the visitors' five.

It was a fully deserved victory that moves them up to eighth in the table and was also the first time the Baggies had scored more than one goal in the league since 1 March.

Man of the match - Nacer Chadli

The perfect home debut for West Brom's record signing and it was a shame his game was ended early by injury in the 73rd minute

What they said

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: "They deserved it. I felt embarrassed at half-time. We were three down and we can say that some of the goals were individual mistakes.

"The penalty is hard to explain as the opponent is nowhere near our player. But we can't make so many mistakes when we don't have the ball. The problem is big - we can't say we were just unlucky.

"It happens so many times at the start of the season - it is simply too many times.

"There were some positive things in the second half, but we want action not reaction. We have a problem, starting with me. I know that we have a problem and I am the manager and I have to do everything to turn this around, solve that problem."

West Brom manager Tony Pulis: "It was a good performance. But we played well at Bournemouth last week and probably created as many opportunities. The difference is we've won the game and that changes people's perceptions.

"We're pleased the ball has gone in the back of the net but we've done nothing different - other than the ball has gone in the back of the net."

The stats you need to know

• Chadli's penalty was the first he has taken in the Premier League, despite this being his 90th appearance in the competition.

• Rondon has scored in four of his last seven Premier League appearances for West Brom.

• Chadli scored two and assisted two more in this match, the first time a West Brom player has had a hand in four goals in a single Premier League game.

• Antonio has scored more headed goals on his own (five) than any team in the Premier League this season.

• The Hammers have conceded at least two goals in 12 of their last 15 Premier League matches (33 goals conceded overall).

What next?

West Ham are in midweek action in the EFL Cup, entertaining League two Accrington Stanley, followed by the visit of Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday, 25 September.

West Brom face a trip to Stoke in the league on Saturday.