Payet inspires West Ham comeback win over Bournemouth
Premier League, Vitality Stadium – AFC Bournemouth 1 (Arter 17) West Ham United 3 (Payet 67, Valencia 74, 84)
A brace of goals from Enner Valencia and superb individual performance from Dimitri Payet helped West Ham come from a goal behind to beat Bournemouth 3-1.
A first Premier League goal from Harry Arter had put Bournemouth a goal up at the break, Artur Boruc keeping them ahead with two fine saves.
But a sumptuous free-kick from Payet brought the Hammers level before he set up Valencia for his first in almost a year.
Valencia then doubled his tally with a beautifully executed free-kick of his own to put West Ham just a point off fifth place.
Bournemouth remain only three points above the drop zone and Swansea could leapfrog them with victory over Sunderland.
KEY MOMENTS
13’ – CARROLL LIMPS OFF: More bad news from the injury-plagued striker who goes down clutching his knee before walking gingerly from the field.
17’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 West Ham: Lovely play by Arter, who switches on to his right foot and shoots past Adrian, who will be disappointed not to have saved it, having got his right hand on it. His first Premier League goal.
19’ – GLORIOUS CHANCE AFOBE! Ritchie crosses it straight to Afobe only a few yards out but he plants his header over! Should have scored.
33’ – CHANCE AFOBE! It’s another great opportunity for the debutant but his first touch is poor and he allows Adrian to make the save.
38’ – GREAT SAVE BORUC: Jelavic’s cross takes deflection and the keeper claws it out of the top corner at the near post.
45’ – BORUC SAVES BOURNEMOUTH AGAIN: Payet closes on goal and lets fly on the edge of the box with his left foot and the Bournemouth keeper tips it over the bar.
67’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 1-1 West Ham: it’s another stunning free-kick from the little magician that draws West Ham level. Top corner.
74’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 1-2 West Ham: Enner Valencia breaks his goal drought, hammering home Payet’s excellent pass from the byline.
84’ – GOAL! Bournemouth 1-3 West Ham: it’s another goal for Valencia, who bags his second in the space of ten minutes with a superb free kick at the near post.
TALKING POINT
Andy Carroll’s injury woes continue: The big striker came into the match on goalscoring form but his injury jinx struck after 13 minutes after he limped off with an apparent hamstring strain.
KEY STATS
West Ham are unbeaten in the last eight PL matches, equalling their PL club record of March-May 1995 and October-December 2000. West Ham currently have the longest unbeaten streak of all PL teams this season.
West Ham win their first two PL matches in the new year for the first time ever. The last time they won the first two topflight matches of in January was in 1974.
Enner Valencia scores multiple PL goals for the second time n his career: the first time was at Stoke City on 1 November 2014 (2-2).
The last time that two different players of the same team scored from a direct free-kick in one PL match was on 6 October 2012. Then, Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner scored from a free kick for Manchester City against Sunderland (3-0 victory).
Mark Noble made his 300th appearance for West Ham.
Bournemouth’s 4-3 win over West Ham in August is their only competitive victory in seven attempts versus the Hammers (D2 L4).
MAN OF THE MATCH
Dimitri Payet (West Ham) Another masterful performance. Scored a beautiful free kick and set up Valencia with a lovely cut back.
PLAYER RATINGS
AFC Bournemouth: Boruc 6, Francis 6, Cook 6, Gosling 7, Surman 6, Arter 7, Daniels 6, Smith 6, Stanislas 6, Afobe 6, Ritchie 6. SUBS: Grabban 6, Murray 6, Iturbe 6.
West Ham United: Adrian 7, Tomkins 6, Collins 6, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 7, Obiang 6, Noble 6, Antonio 6, Payet 8, Valencia 7, Carroll 5. SUBS: Jenkinson 6, Song 6, Jelavic 6.
MATCH IN A TWEET
Related Topics
Share this article