FT: West Ham 1-2 Bournemouth - Defensive horrors continue for Pellegrini’s new side

The defensive woes continue painfully for West Ham United, as they allowed Bournemouth a 2-1 comeback victory at the London Stadium on Saturday to begin a season of much hype with two humbling defeats.

It will be more backline issues once again for Manuel Pellegrini to answer for, as his side paid the price for porous resistance and failed to build off the momentum of scoring their first goal of the 2018-19 campaign.

After Lukasz Fabianski’s top stop to deny Callum Wilson, the Hammers did take the game’s first lead, as Marko Arnautovic converted from the penalty spot superbly in the 33rd minute after Javier Hernandez was taken down in the box by Nathan Ake.

But Eddie Howe’s side completed another successful comeback in his quality tenure with the club, including another one at the expense of West Ham, with a dominant second half. The road side gave early warning when David Brooks forced another save from Fabianski right at the restart.

And the Hammers were made to pay when a moment of individual brilliance from Callum Wilson embarrassed Pellegrini’s defenders to even the match at 1-1 in the 60th minute. And just six minutes later, Bournemouth would secure the winning goal, as once again rudimentary defending lead to a clear header in the box for Steve Cook to finish. Despite their attacking array, West Ham barely challenged Asmir Begovic’s goal and have the uncomfortable feeling of starting another season with 0 points after two games.

The little pressure on Pellegrini for his side to produce from their massive spending this summer will continue, when West Ham face off against London rivals Arsenal next weekend.