Bournemouth hit the post!

10 minutes: West Ham, who looked lively, line up with Kudus, who plays on the left wing today. The Ghanaian switches the move to Paqueta, who dances into Bournemouth’s penalty area, but his shot is blocked.

8 minutes: Pop quiz: Jordan Pickford became the 20th goalkeeper to reach 300 Premier League appearances this season. Who is the only other active goalkeeper currently playing in the Premier League to achieve this feat?

Note: This is a current question.

6 minutes: Paqueta is pulled into the pocket by Kluivert in midfield and Bournemouth counterattack. Semenyo finds Christie on the edge of West Ham’s penalty area, but the Scot’s shot is decisively blocked by Soler. Christie has a great left foot, but West Ham did a good job of scoring on the shot.

4 minutes: Coufal, who has never scored for West Ham, beats Kerkez on the right. The Czech gallops into the Bournemouth penalty area, but the angle is tight and the right-hand Black scrambles his lines and pushes a shot high and wide into the goal.

2 minutes: Kerkez, recently linked with a move to Manchester United and Liverpool, makes one of those typical underlaps and gets to the byline, but it’s a good block from Mavropanos to clear the danger.

Peeeeep! And we’re on the south coast.

The teams are out! Let’s go.

For what it’s worthWest Ham were lucky to beat Wolves last Monday.

That was the xG…

West Ham 1.01
Wolves 1.63.

…and Wolves, whose defeat certainly contributed to Gary O’Neil’s sacking at the weekend, were also unlucky to be on the receiving end of some poor refereeing decisions.

This looks very cryptic (and slightly worrying for West Ham fans) pre-match message from Lucas Paquetá.

According to Google this means:

I’m not from here
I will return home
He is coming for me and I will go with him!

However, it appears that it is simply the lyrics of a Brazilian gospel song. Fabrizio Romano, step down.

Speaking of left-backThis interview with Milos Kerkez is worth your time.

Both West Ham left-backsEmerson and Cresswell are not in the squad. Emerson is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 win against Wolves last Monday. Wan Bissaka will switch flanks from right-back this evening, with Coufal playing in his normal position.

The teams!

preamble