Three things we learnt from West Ham’s late victory over Bournemouth

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Cherries unripe after slow start to the season

Eddie Howe will surely see Bournemouth’s stuttering start as a cause for concern, the South Coast club slipping to the bottom of the Premier League having succumbed to defeat in their first two Premier League games.

Despite edging possession with 53% to West Ham’s 47%, they created precious little in the final third and despite having more shots on target- achieving five compared to the two managed by the home side- they only really troubled Hammers goalkeeper Ádrian twice, with efforts from Joshua King, the second a stoppage time effort where the keeper got down well to thwart the Bournemouth forward and prevent him scoring a certain equaliser.

The Cherries’ club-record signing Jordan Ibe was typically direct as in his Liverpool days and looked to trouble West Ham with some mazey runs, but his impact came in fits and starts as it did in their season opener against Manchester United and after making the wrong choice in front of goal in the second-half, squaring the ball off when a shot would’ve yielded a certain goal, the impression given is that the new recruit is yet to really sharpen up at his new club.

He has big boots to fill following the departure of Bournemouth’s creative lynchpin on the wing last season, Matt Ritchie, but he hasn’t quite hit the ground running yet and the latest Cherry will need to ripen up quickluy to provide the impact Eddie Howe needs, for when near the bottom and aiming to stay in the division, a team can ill-afford a poor start and Howe will need no reminding that the club need to get points on the board quickly after two discouraging opening performances.

Though Bournemouth were good value for a point in this one and were well-organised and tough to break down for West Ham, Howe having reverted to a 4-4-2 system after his 4-3-3 set-up at home to Manchester United failed to pay-off. It almost did here, but the red card proved costly and those fine margins in individual games can making a telling difference to a team’s season, and Howe will be stressing the importance of team discipline after Arter picked up his first booking for dissent, before seeing his second caution after pulling back Kouyaté.

Bournemouth haven’t quite ripened up yet, and Eddie Howe and his team will be desperate to kickstart their league season away at Crystal Palace next Saturday.

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