David Moyes’ West Ham return got off to the best possible start as two Mark Noble goals helped his side to an emphatic victory over Bournemouth that lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Captain Noble opened the scoring inside 20 minutes with the help of a deflection before Sebastien Haller’s bicycle kick doubled the Hammers’ lead.
Noble scored his second 10 minutes later from the penalty spot after being brought down by Harry Wilson before Felipe Anderson completed the rout.
West Ham was lucky not to end the match with 10 men after Aaron Cresswell was sent off for a reckless challenge on Ryan Fraser, only for the video assistant referee (VAR) to downgrade the dismissal to a yellow card.
The victory was West Ham’s second in six matches, while the defeat sees Bournemouth slip into the relegation places in 18th.
Moyes replaced the sacked Manuel Pellegrini on Sunday, returning to the club he led to Premier League safety at the end of the 2017-18 season.
In his first spell at the Hammers’ helm, Moyes lost his opening match in charge – away to Watford – and had to wait for four games before finally getting a win on the board.
But it was the polar opposite second time around, a classy performance from the Hammers securing a statement win on home soil.
Moyes stamped his return by making four changes to the side which had lost to Leicester on 28 December under Pellegrini, and those changes proved pivotal with Noble and Robert Snodgrass the stars of the show from the off.
Noble had called for West Ham fans to get behind Moyes after his reappointment and the captain led from the front with his opening goal, wrong-footing Aaron Ramsdale with his deflected strike after brilliant play from Snodgrass.
The scorer geed up the crowd as the match got back underway, signalling to them to ramp up the volume, and they did exactly that when Haller found the back of the net seven minutes later, through an exquisite mid-air finish from Ryan Fredericks’ cross.
It marked the first time the Hammers had scored twice in a first half this season and Bournemouth had no answer as their hosts repeatedly thundered forwards, with Noble soon scoring his second after being tripped in the box by Wilson, sending Ramsdale the wrong way with his spot-kick.
West Ham did not quite have the same control of the second half as they did the first as the Cherries looked to claw something back, but if the three points had not already been sealed by now, Anderson’s second-half strike proved the final nail in the coffin.
The Brazilian effortlessly brought down Declan Rice’s weighted pass before a simple finish condemned Bournemouth to their 11th defeat of the season.
Cresswell looked to have produced the only blot on an otherwise blemish-free day for West Ham when referee Graham Scott showed him a straight red for a needless tackle on Fraser, but it was Scott who was left red-faced when VAR overturned his decision.
Four changes were also the order of the day for Eddie Howe’s Cherries as they looked to start 2020 in a better fashion than 2019 had ended – but it did not go to plan.
On a day in which the injury-hit club had recalled Sam Surridge and stuck him straight on the bench, Bournemouth lacked any sort of get-up-and-go against West Ham and are now staring down the barrel of relegation after winning just one of their past 10 matches in the top flight.
They had started brightly, however, controlling the opening passages of play with Diego Rico carving out opportunities for his side.
But Howe’s men were dealt a sucker punch when West Ham took the lead and suffered another blow soon after when they had a penalty appeal reviewed, and then denied, by VAR following an Angelo Ogbonna tackle.
The wind was truly taken out of their sails when they went 2-0 behind, unable to do anything to deny Haller’s acrobatics, and then 3-0 down, although Rico did force Lukasz Fabianski into a decent save in the closing stages of the first half.
Howe’s half-time team talk looked to have made some difference as Bournemouth came out after the break-in a higher gear, substitute Junior Stanislas looking to single-handedly drive his side on as they strung passes together and finally enjoyed more possession.
But they had very little to offer after West Ham’s fourth goal, despite Dominic Solanke hitting the post in the final minutes.
You might also like – Norwich City 1 – 1 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace substitute Connor Wickham scored a late equaliser awarded by video assistant referee to deny bottom side, Norwich, a much-needed victory at Carrow Road.
Wickham’s strike after turning in Wilfried Zaha’s cross was initially disallowed for offside, but a check by VAR showed the striker was being played on by an outstretched Norwich boot.
Palace had struggled to create against a resolute Canaries defence – who remain without a clean sheet at home this season – after Todd Cantwell put the hosts in front after only four minutes. read more
Source – Sport365coza
