West Ham Vs Bournemouth held to 0-0 draw as Hammers miss chance to go level with Forest
In a soggy London Stadium evening, west ham vs bournemouth finished 0-0, a goalless draw that left third-bottom West Ham unable to put pressure on the teams above the relegation zone.
Early openings and statistical picture
West Ham began brightly: they had four shots inside the opening six minutes and almost led inside the opening minute when new loan signing Axel Disasi went close from a corner. Disasi saw a header palmed away by Djordje Petrovic and then turned the rebound over the bar within 45 seconds of kick-off. The hosts finished the game with twice as many shots as Bournemouth, 20-10 — their most in a Premier League game this season — but only three were on target and much of the threat came from set-pieces.
West Ham Vs Bournemouth: late chances and key moments
The match remained largely devoid of clear-cut chances until the closing stages. Taty Castellanos flashed an overhead kick narrowly wide and later produced a bicycle-kick attempt that briefly threatened the spectacular. Callum Wilson — who scored a hat-trick at the Boleyn Ground to give Bournemouth their first Premier League win in August 2015 — came off the bench for West Ham with 18 minutes left, and his first-time flick was beaten away by Petrovic. Wilson finished with more touches in the opposition box than any other player (seven). Rayan clipped a post on the counter-attack for Bournemouth in the second half, and Jarrod Bowen went closest to a late Hammers winner, blazing over in stoppage time and failing to hit the target from a few yards out deep in injury time. The two sides played out a sixth straight draw against one another.
Summerville threat and coaching attention
Crysencio Summerville posed West Ham’s biggest problems from open play. After scoring six goals in his previous seven games, Summerville beat two men before testing Petrovic from distance in the first half, and a flowing move saw Taty Castellanos pick out Summerville, who could only prod into Petrovic’s hands. Summerville’s recent form has made him West Ham’s second-highest scorer this season despite all his goals coming since the turn of the year, but on this day he lacked a cutting edge and later failed to get the ball out from under his feet when a prime opportunity fell his way. Netherlands assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy was watching Summerville during the game.
Table effects, form runs and quotes
Victory would have put West Ham level with Nottingham Forest; instead the draw leaves the Hammers two points closer to safety. West Ham have lost just one of their last six league games, and the gap to a safe position is down to two points, at least until Nottingham Forest host Liverpool on Sunday. Bournemouth’s unbeaten run extends to seven league games and the result saw them edge above Everton into eighth place. The match brought sober reaction from West Ham’s manager: "We have to keep believing and improving, " he said, and later added, "We were really close... we feel it is almost there for us to take and we didn't take it. " On Bowen’s late miss he said, "I was praying. "
Atmosphere, attendance and coverage
The wet encounter at the London Stadium was played in front of 62, 437 supporters. Hammers fans unveiled a tifo tribute to former goalkeeper and coach Ludek Miklosko, who announced 14 months ago that he had withdrawn from cancer treatment. A live commentary blog for the match was unavailable during the game.
Clean sheet and what comes next
While the goalless result denied West Ham three points, the clean sheet was a positive to take from the match. The immediate fixture of note is Nottingham Forest hosting Liverpool on Sunday; that game will affect whether West Ham can move out of the relegation places following this draw. One line in the match report was left incomplete and is unclear in the provided context: "Bidding to become the first teenager to register" — unclear in the provided context.
