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1 week ago
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20 min: Bournemouth continue to dominate possession but West Ham have been the ones to threaten.
19 min: Long-throw time: Hill sends it in for Bournemouth before Diouf hoofs the ball away.
17 min: Tyler Adams gets busy in the middle but Bournemouth can’t cut through West Ham’s defensive shape at the moment.
16 min: Summerville bursts into life, zig-zagging on the left wing before his dinked cross is headed away for a corner … Bowen whips into the danger area but Bournemouth handle it well enough.
15 min: West Ham work the ball nicely down the right but Magassa’s cross is poor.
13 min: Plenty of touches for Senesi and Hill as Bournemouth stay patient on the ball.
11 min: Magassa shows strength in the middle of the park for West Ham but Bournemouth regain the ball, with Senesi dinking it over the top for Adli to chase on the left.
10 min: Bournemouth begin to wheel the ball around at the back, pumping up those possession stats.
9 min: Summerville shows off his quick feet inside his own half as West Ham try and counter.
8 min: It’s an aerial game as the sides play volleyball inside the Bournemouth half.
6 min: A bright opening burst for West Ham continues: Mateus Fernandes pings a free-kick into the area, and Mavropanos rises for the header that travels off-target.
4 min: Summerville, the man of the moment, nearly opens the scoring. The bulk of the work is done by Castellanos, who follows a tidy flick with a lovely cross from the right: Summerville pokes out his boot inside the area but can’t get the required power or direction.
1 min: West Ham have an early corner … whipped in by Bowen, the ball brushes Disasi and Petrovic saves on the line! An early warning, with a dangerous delivery by the talismanic No 20.
Peeeeeeep!
The hosts get us going.
Crysencio Summerville caused Diogo Dalot all sorts of bother last Tuesday; the winger has six goals in his last seven games. One to keep an eye on today.
West Ham make one change from the side that drew against Manchester United: Freddie Potts is suspended after receiving a red card against Burton Albion in the FA Cup, so in comes Soungoutou Magassa. Eli Junior Kroupi and Tyler Adams are back in for Bournemouth.
The teams
West Ham: Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf, Fernandes, Magassa, Bowen, Soucek, Summerville, Castellanos
Subs: Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Wilson, Traoré, Todibo, Scarles, Kanté, Mayers
Bournemouth: Petrovic, Jiménez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Adams, Rayan, Junior Kroupi, Adli, Evanilson
Subs: Mandas, Brooks, Christie, Smith, Tavernier, Diakité, Ünal, Toth, Milosavljevic
Preamble
Let’s mix things up: if we’re pretending the league started on New Year’s Day, then this is a top-half battle. Andoni Iraola’s side have gone six league games without defeat; Nuno Espírito Santo’s men have won three out of five since that soul-crushing loss by Nottingham Forest last month.
The Hammers remain 18th but victory here will bring them level on points with Forest, the dream of safety still very much alive, Nuno still capable of haunting his former employers. These two sides have developed a habit of cancelling each other out, with five consecutive draws in the league, but that won’t cut it for West Ham in their current predicament. That Benjamin Sesko equaliser last week, deep in added time, must have really stung. Kick-off’s at 5.30pm GMT.
