CHERRIES ON TOP
West Ham 1 Bournemouth 1
David Moyes has surprised everyone in the stadium by giving new loan signing Kalvin Phillips a debut against AFC Bournemouth tonight. It’s the Hammers’ first home game in 24 days, and they haven’t won in the last four fixtures, but suffered a defeat in a farcical reverse against Bristol City a fortnight ago.
And just as Mavropanos began the FA cup game at Bristol with a disastrous back pass after just three minutes, Kalvin Phillips, having been given just a yard to operate by Zouma’s pass, emulates Mavropanos’ effort with an instinctive early back pass meant for Areola, which Solanke finds himself in a perfect position to slot past the West Ham goalkeeper. Even a late VAR check fails to reprieve the plucky debutant.
This early setback gives rise to a half where West Ham seem beset with problems not surprisingly connected to the fact that they seem to be fielding five midfield players. Kudus and Bowen get very little of the ball other than when they choose to chase back for it, and Álvarez looks like he has spent the last month auditioning for a film role as the Bristol statue of Edward Colston that spent almost a week rusting in the River Avon after being toppled from its original erected position on June 7th 2020. That date would of course three years later prove significant for West Ham, when they won the European Conference league in Prague against Fiorentina.
The shots continue to rain in across the half, and other than a flicked header from Bowen that Neto does well to field, there are just bare scraps for the Hammers to feed on.
23 Alphonse Areola, 2 Ben Johnson, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 33 Emerson, 19 Edson Álvarez, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 11 Kalvin Phillips, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 28 Tomas Souček, 20 Jarrod Bowen 14 Mohammed Kudus
Substitutes: 18 Danny Ings, 17 Maxwel Cornet
Goalscorer: James Ward-Prowse (62, penalty)
