West Ham 3-4 BournemouthHome team scorersMark Noble 48 Pen
Cheikhou Kouyate 53
Modibo Maiga 82
Away team scorersCallum Wilson 11
Callum Wilson 28
Marc Pugh 66
Callum Wilson 79 Pen
They have been winning friends and admiring glances, but the time had come for Bournemouth to prove that they belong at this level and they wanted something more substantial to show for their unstinting efforts than generous pats on the head from neutrals and goodwill that flew their way after narrow defeats in their first two matches. Eddie Howe’s side did not disappoint at Upton Park and deepened the uncertainty that surrounds West Ham United by scoring their first goals of the season and earning their first-ever victory in the top flight of English football.
The Premier League will be a more enjoyable place for Bournemouth’s presence if they attack with this much adventure every week, even though their defending left much to be desired during a chaotic second half. Callum Wilson scored a hat-trick and Marc Pugh restored their advantage in the 66th minute after they had squandered the 2-0 lead.
As for West Ham, the decision to replace Sam Allardyce with Slaven Bilic will continue to be questioned after their second successive defeat at Upton Park.
Bournemouth arrived in east London without a goal to their name but it was not long before they reminded Darren Randolph of the torture they subjected him to when he was at Birmingham City. Recent history did not favour Randolph – deputising for the suspended Adrián – given that these were the same opponents who stuck 12 goals past him in two matches last season.
In Randolph’s defence, there was nothing he could have done to prevent Bournemouth from breaking their Premier League duck in the 11th minute. West Ham were always in trouble once Simon Francis had won his tussle with Aaron Cresswell on the right and Wilson’s sharp movement across Winston Reid allowed him to batter the right-back’s cutback past Randolph at the near post, sparking wild Bournemouth celebrations.
West Ham were stunned. They thought that they had taken the lead four minutes earlier, only for Reid to be penalised for a pushing when he headed Dimitri Payet’s corner past Artur Boruc, yet the boos were soon ringing around Upton Park once Bournemouth’s superior organisation and basic competence became painfully apparent. There were jeers when Angelo Ogbonna was replaced in the centre of the defence by James Tomkins after 35 minutes and times when it felt like a trick of the mind that Bilic was standing in the technical area instead of Allardyce.
The damage was already severe by the time Ogbonna was taken off. The usually dependable Cresswell was having a nightmare and the left-back was culpable when Bournemouth scored again after 28 minutes, playing a blind pass straight to Wilson, whose finish was the epitome of cool.
West Ham were a collective shambles, a mess in defence, confused in midfield and brittle in attack, where Kevin Nolan huffed and puffed alongside the isolated Diafra Sakho because Andy Carroll, Enner Valencia and Mauro Zárate are injured.
Bilic’s selection was horribly wrong. His decision to start Nolan up front backfired and West Ham’s diamond system exposed their full-backs exposed to Bournemouth’s flying wingers. While Cresswell struggled to contain Matt Ritchie on the left, Carl Jenkinson was tormented throughout by Max Gradel on the opposite flank and was sent off for pulling the winger back and conceding the penalty that allowed Wilson to complete his hat-trick in the 79th minute.
The only positive that West Ham could take from the first half was that Bournemouth had spurned chances to make the scoreline even more humiliating.
Bournemouth could have been out of sight by the teams disappeared down the tunnel; instead West Ham still had hope and Bilic used the interval to repair the cracks in the system by bringing on Matt Jarvis for Nolan.
Momentum swung West Ham’s way when King tripped Noble in the area after 48 minutes. Noble sent Boruc the wrong way with his penalty and belief fizzed through Bilic’s players.
West Ham glimpsed Bournemouth’s inexperience and the equaliser arrived five minutes later, Cheikhou Kouyaté smashing the rebound into of the roof of the net after Boruc had palmed out Sakho’s shot.
That could have been the cue for Bournemouth to crumble. Yet they had won the game once and they could win it again.
Back they came, undeterred, defiant, brimming with positive energy. Pugh, on as a substitute for King, shot powerfully from the edge of the area and Randolph pushed his effort away, but West Ham did not heed the warning.
They wasted opportunities to clear the ball in the 66th minute, allowing Gradel to find Pugh in space on the left, and the winger sent Jenkinson skidding off into the distance with a superb piece of skill that allowed him to bend a sumptuous curler past Randolph with his right foot.
Modibo Maïga pulled a goal back for West Ham shortly after Wilson made it 4-2 and there was drama when Eunan O’Kane cleared the ball off the line from Payet’s corner in the final minute of stoppage time, but Bournemouth are out of the blocks.
Guardian
