Bournemouth simply, I don’t know when they were defeated. Substitute Enes Unal curled a free-kick into the top corner, a second after West Ham grabbed an incredible lead courtesy of a controversial penalty. another Bournemouth The substitute, Tyler Adams, was penalized for handling Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross from the right, and Lucas Paquetá converted a spot-kick at the back, awarded following a VAR review.
Lopetegui insisted the relief from the welcome win at home to Wolves was forgotten as West Ham again won the league for the first time this season. Manager West Ham made two changes, one with Emerson suspended, as Wan-Bissaka switched to left-back, and Vladimir Coufal came into the starting line-up at right-back. Lucas Paquetá, who has been struggling in form, was surprised by the inclusion in place of Crysencio Summerville.
West Ham players wore black arms in tribute to former academy goalkeeper Oscar Fairs, who died aged 15, and with nine minutes of support missing they sang the name of their No 9 Michail Antonio, who miraculously overcame a car crash earlier this month. They visited Anthony, who is expected to be sidelined for at least a year, in a London hospital over the weekend. It was a nice touch from Bournemouth’s head coach, Andoni Iraola, even though it was a lively match, the applause that was sent around the stadium.
From the moment Ryan Christie clipped Mohammed Kudus in the middle with 13 seconds left, this was a frenetic occasion. Milos Kerkez won Bournemouth’s first corner on the end of one of his deliveries from the full back. Bournemouth had the first known chance, Antoine Semenyo sending the ball flying against the post in the 12th minute. The move originated from Kepa Arrizabalaga’s ball downfield. Semenyo beat Wan-Bissaka to the header, Evanilson got the better of Constantin Mavropanos and then Justin Kluivert headed a loose ball into the path of Semenyo, who got the ball to fire in front of his right foot. West Ham seemed to throw away that chance. Just before the interval, Lukasz Fabianski’s shot from behind was pushed back by Dango Ouattara.
Lopetegui cut a frustrated figure as West Ham, continuing the theme of recent weeks, failed to make more of his chances. He kicked into gear as Jarrod Bowen sent a deft left-footed shot against the crossbar after West Ham captain Illia Zabarnyi and Lewis Cook’s dropped ball from Kudus set up some space for a goal-scoring attempt. Bowen then finally forced another one past Kudus and whipped the cross towards the front. Bowen’s first touch took him away from Zabarnyi, but left him with an inexperienced angle to play, but still kept his instincts.
Lopetegui got behind his back behind Carlos Soler when on his right foot to deceive Bournemouth’s captain Adam Smith, he fired a shot wide of the far post. Soucek then sent an attempt at wide pressure from Ouattara after Dean Huijsen and Kerkez failed to clear themselves.
The middle of the middle is difficult in view from the perspective of the West Ham. Bournemouth came back with their usual intensity from the fans, and West Ham had to withstand the pressure, with a few scares on the road. Ouattara saw an effort, engineered from a short corner practice, deflect wide two minutes into the restart and then Fabianski collected a dribble from Semenyo. Christie had no such problem with conviction, using a stinging left-footed shot sparked by Evanilson’s layoffs only to use his right. The bad news for West Ham was there were still 40 more minutes to play.
Lopetegui seems to be the same and soon replaces Niclas Füllkrug as we warned Soler. West Ham need the stem flowing. Maximilian Kilman, who impressed at centre-back, made a vital interception to mix up and block Semenyon’s shot after Bournemouth accelerated upfield, through Evanilson’s backheel. Zabarnyi then headed wide from a corner. The western creative juices of Hami, meanwhile, had dried up.
When West Ham got a rare chance on Bournemouth’s goal midway through, Zabarnyi was quickly on the scene to snuff out the danger. After Füllkrug crossed the road to Kudus, Zabarnyi threw his body on the floor to make a timely intervention. Fabianski ended up in front of him, only to push Evanilson’s header from Christie’s corner to safety late on, and West Ham’s focus was to get the ball out, not to attack at the other end.
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Lopetegui will move to the back five, Ollie Scarles following. delivering Supreme League debut and only second senior appearance, was indicative of the plan.
It looked like a dangerous game to play against a team with a habit of scoring recently, having already scored a league-high ten goals in the last 15 minutes of the game, with five in stoppage time. Substitute Enes Unal canceled out Paquetá’s penalty with a free kick sliced into the top left corner from 30 yards.