By Simon Leyland
Bournemouth 0 West Ham 4
That was a fabulous victory as we recorded probably our best performance of the season
West Ham got off to the best possible start, when after five minutes Paqueta released Bowen to thunder down the right bye line.
He checked, crossed and Antonio challenged Stephens, who could only help the ball behind for a corner with his head. Cresswell then delivered the resultant corner to the near post, where Antonio lost his markers Solanke and Billing and thumped the header past Neto from six yards.
Five minutes later we went 2-0 up after the industrious Coufal won the ball off Tavernier, then went all Brazilian by playing a sublime one-two with Bowen and produced a perfect cross to the far post, where Paqueta timed his jump perfectly to nod the ball past a bewildered Neto.
I was not that surprised to discover that Michail Antonio’s goal was the first we’ve scored inside the first 15 minutes of a Premier League game this season!
And to cap off a very satisfactory first half, Declan Rice hammered in a third following a Cresswell corner which was not cleared properly.
The Irons continued to pile on the pressure during the second half when Antonio and surprise, surprise Benrahma came off to be replaced by Fornals and Ings.
Ten minutes later the tireless Bowen put yet another cross into the box, but just behind Fornals, but he volleyed the ball into the goal with a scorpion kick !….Eat your heart out Rene Higuita!
It could have been 5-0 when the lively substitute Maxwel Cornet had a goal chalked off for off side after good work from Fornals.
So 4-0 it was, a good day at the office and we move up to 13th and barring anything nuclear happening in the next few weeks, I think we are probably going to be safe.
The decision to stick by Moyes proving to be better and better. Only five points behind Chelsea now. Come on you irons!
At last!! Yes a fabulous stylish and important win. Feeling confident we are staying up now for the first time this season, because we are competing, on the front foot, wanting to attack and from the start of the game. I felt something change ironically against Arsenal; suddenly mid first half we were at it. Has the penny dropped? Player power? One thing I’m sure of, Lucas Paqueta is a real competitor as well as a talent. His attitude has been infectious I feel, and Dec is loving playing with him.
Moyes has passed his point of maximum danger. He’ll be in the dugout next season, IMO.
The winter world cup is now over, key players are back from injury (apart from Scamacca), the team is beginning to gel and a team with this much talent are now performing as we all envisaged they should do.
A little patience and understanding is all that we needed after all.
I have seen many teams get rid of a manager that they didn’t like or stopped believing in and this isn’t one of those teams.
Well done to Moyes and the Boys.