FT: Bournemouth 2-0 West Ham: Wilson, King again prove too much for Hammers at Vitality Stadium

It was once again another frustrating match of non-victory at the Dean Court’s Vitality Stadium for West Ham United, as they lost at Bournemouth 2-0 Saturday afternoon.

A tremendous strike from the in-form Callum Wilson and a match sealing late goal from Hammers killer Josh King gave Eddie Howe’s side a much needed victory and prevented Manuel Pellegrini’s team from getting back to the coveted, provisional Europa League 7th place spot in the Premier League table.

Though there have been worse first halves of football, not many plaudits could be given to either team at the end of a first half that featured zero shots on goal from both clubs. Samri Nasri came the closest to scoring for West Ham, but sliced his good effort just wide.

The first ten minutes of the second half were entirely different, with Andy Carroll providing one of the misses of the season after a great cross from Mark Noble. The tall forward headed the ball down into his path and somehow missed the goal entirely from a yard out.

That shocking miss from Carroll would prove very costly, as Bournemouth took the lead in the 53th minute off a good counter-attack run from Ryan Fraser that Issa Diop did very well to recover and block out, only for the ball to perfectly sit up for Wilson. The Cherries’ star forward unleashed a flawless volley that Lukasz Fabianski could do nothing about to add to his burgeoning reputation.

West Ham would go on to spend the rest of the half desperately looking for an equalizer, but could not create a chance as good as the one Carroll spurned. And Bournemouth’s victory was guaranteed in stoppage time, as another counter from the home side lead to a tap-in goal from King.

The Hammers will hope that AFC Wimbledon will prove a nice London derby cup bounce back for them, as they take on that exact opponent in their next match in a week’s time, in the FA Cup 4th Round.