Europa Conference League highlights, round-up: West Ham, Villarreal, AZ still perfect

West Ham, Villarreal and AZ Alkmaar are still sitting on perfect winning records as the 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage continued.

UEFA.com rounds up the Matchday 3 action.

Anderlecht 0-1 West Ham

Gianluca Scamacca's well-taken goal and a brilliant save from Alphonse Areola maintained West Ham's 100% start. Defences were largely on top in Brussels, although Saïd Benrahma fired over an open goal in the first half. Three West Ham substitutes combined for the winner, Lucas Paquetá chipping the ball over the top for Scamacca, who finished smartly on the turn. Areola preserved his clean sheet moments when he somehow kept out a thumping header from Fabio Silva.

Key stat: Anderlecht conceded a goal for the first time in this group stage in their 259th minute of action.

Hearts 0-3 Fiorentina

Fiorentina eased past Hearts to move off the bottom of Group A as first-half goals from Rolando Mandragora and Christian Kouamé helped the Italian side dominate at a rain-soaked Tynecastle. Lewis Neilson's red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity after the break all but ended the contest and a Luka Jović finish sealed a routine win for La Viola.

Key stat: This was only Fiorentina's second win in 11 matches in all competitions and the first time they have scored three in a match since the opening day of the Serie A season – a 3-2 win over Cremonese

Villarreal 5-0 Austria Wien

Morales came off the bench to score a hat-trick as Villarreal took a stranglehold on Group C. Álex Baena broke the deadlock with a sublime goal on 18 minutes, trapping a cross and curling an angled half-volley into the top corner for his fourth goal of the group stage. Dominik Fitz hit the bar with a stunning free-kick at the other end but Arnaut Danjuma collected a Álex Baena pass and strode through to poke past Christian Früchtl to make it 2-0. Morales lobbed his first 12 minutes from time after a defensive mix-up, swept in a second three minutes later and completed the scoring with a one-on-one in the dying minutes.

Key stat: This was a sixth straight defeat for Austria Wien against Spanish opposition, the Austrian side failing to score in any of them.

Köln 0-1 Partizan

Svetozar Marković's early goal was enough to give Partizan a narrow win away to Köln that leaves the Serbian side top of Group D. The defender's header deflected in off Köln's Luca Kilian after just nine minutes, but the German team were close to levelling when Sargis Adamyan hit the bar with a header before half-time. Two brilliant saves from Marvin Schwäbe kept the hosts in it after the break, but Partizan had already done enough to head the group ahead of Nice.

Key stat: After losing their first seven UEFA games in Germany, Partizan have now won their last two.

Best of the rest

• Ballkani became the first Kosovan side to win a UEFA group match as Ermal Krasniqi scored a 94th-minute winner in a seven-goal thriller against Sivasspor, who had equalised three minutes earlier. All four teams in Group G are tied on four points at the halfway stage.

• Silkeborg won a UEFA fixture (group stage to final) for the first time since 1998 – and in some style too as they scored five unanswered goals against FCSB in their Group B contest.

• AZ Alkmaar maintained their 100% record in Group E thanks to Jesper Karlsson's strike five minutes from time to finally see off Apollon in an entertaining game in the Netherlands.

All the Matchday 3 results

Group A: Hearts 0-3 Fiorentina, RFS 0-0 İstanbul Başakşehir
Group B: Anderlecht 0-1 West Ham, Silkeborg 5-0 FCSB
Group C: Lech 0-0 Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Villarreal 5-0 Austria Wien
Group D: Slovácko 0-1 Nice, Köln 0-1 Partizan
Group E: Dnipro-1 2-2 Vaduz, AZ Alkmaar 3-2 Apollon Limassol
Group F: Molde 3-0 Shamrock Rovers, Gent 0-1 Djurgården
Group G: Sivasspor 3-4 Ballkani, Slavia Praha 0-1 CFR Cluj
Group H: Pyunik 2-0 Žalgiris, Basel 0-2 Slovan Bratislava

All the Matchday 4 fixtures (13 October)

Group A: İstanbul Başakşehir vs RFS (18:45), Fiorentina vs Hearts (18:45)
Group B: FCSB vs Silkeborg (21:00), West Ham vs Anderlecht (21:00)
Group C: Austria Wien vs Villarreal (18:45), H. Beer-Sheva vs Lech (21:00)
Group D: Partizan vs Köln (18:45), Nice vs Slovácko (21:00)
Group E: Apollon Limassol vs AZ Alkmaar (18:45), Vaduz vs Dnipro-1 (21:00)
Group F: Djurgården vs Gent (18:45), Shamrock Rovers vs Molde (21:00)
Group G: CFR Cluj vs Slavia Praha (18:45), Ballkani vs Sivasspor (21:00)
Group H: Slovan Bratislava vs Basel (18:45), Žalgiris vs Pyunik (21:00)