A pair of quick-fire goals by Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta and an acrobatic scorpion strike from Pablo Fornals helped West Ham United to a 4-0 away win over Bournemouth on Sunday that moved it further away from the Premier League relegation zone.
The Hammers are in 13th spot on 34 points, six ahead of 18th-placed Everton and 10 clear of bottom side Southampton, while Bournemouth’s shambolic defensive performance saw it slip one place to 15th on 33 points.
Burly striker Antonio opened the scoring for the visitors in the fifth minute after being left completely unmarked at a corner, with the simple task of heading Aaron Cresswell’s corner into the net.
Bournemouth’s defensive frailties were exposed again seven minutes later as West Ham won the ball and broke forward, with Vladimir Coufal crossing for Paqueta to score another header, this time at the far post.
Bournemouth dominated possession and almost pulled back a goal when Jefferson Lerma struck a drive that wobbled treacherously in the air in the 28th minute, but Lukasz Fabianski managed to keep it out.
The home side was 3-0 down by the break when Hammers captain Declan Rice charged in to meet a clearance from another corner with a thunderous first-time shot that flew into the net.
Bournemouth dominated possession but struggled to create, with striker Dominic Solanke well shackled and restricted to half-chances.
That allowed substitute Fornals to complete the rout in the 72nd minute, diving and steering home a Jarrod Bowen cross that went behind him with the outside of his right boot.
The goal from Fornals established Bournemouth as the team with the leakiest defensive record in the Premier League this season with 63 goals conceded, one more than Leeds United, and the substitute looked emotional as he celebrated it.
“It’s not been easy and everyone wants to play the minutes, and personally it’s not been easy (for me),” he said in a post-match interview.
“So for the chance to play I thank the lads, as we had a great game. For us it is massive and for me personally to score a goal too,” he added.
Rice was delighted to see his side get on the scoresheet early.
“That’s the first time we scored within 15 minutes all season; it’s hard to not get comfortable but I thought we saw it out really well and think we saw a team pushing to get out of where we are in the table,” he said.
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