WEST HAM fans must just wish the season could end tomorrow.
Pride is perhaps the only thing the club is playing for these days.
It is highly unlikely, with three poor teams inside the drop zone, that they are going to get relegated from the Premier League.
And though the core problems on the pitch are not necessarily his fault, the honeymoon period for Graham Potter ended a while ago.
On a sun-drenched afternoon in East London, this had the feel of an end-of-season occasion for the Hammers, with their campaign slowly drifting towards a lacklustre finish.
The lack of urgency and intensity at times was matched by the flattest atmosphere imaginable inside the London Stadium.
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No wonder the cheeky Bournemouth fans sang: “Is this a library?”
Though there was a brief moment of joy when their captain Jarrod Bowen headed them in front, Bournemouth striker Evanilson scored with a tap-in to deny Potter what would have been just a fourth win in 12 matches.
One image of a West Ham fan YAWNING in stoppage time summed up the sorry nature of the overall display.
West Ham could end up finishing in 17th spot, which would be their WORST league finish for 14 years, and plans for next season should really be happening behind the scenes.
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Things could have got really bad inside the first minute when Bournemouth showed their attacking threat – but the header by Evanilson from Dango Ouattara’s floated left-wing cross sailed wide.
West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was certainly alert to the danger on 32 minutes when he was forced to save with his legs a possible own goal by Tomas Soucek.
The Czech ace – who played throughout in an advanced role between Bowen and Mohammed Kudus – saw the ball inadvertently come off his midriff when Ouattara hooked it back into the box.
Six minutes later, Areola was not so fortunate as his inability to hold on to the ball proved his undoing.
The Parisian spilled a shot from Antoine Semenyo, who did well to fire goalbound from a tight area, and Evanilson reacted first for his fifth goal in six matches.
Inevitably there was a VAR check for a possible offside and on the last Saturday before the introduction of semi-automated offside technology, Cherries fans had to wait for someone in a Stockley Park booth to review the monitors.
It could have been worse for the home side five minutes later but the flicked header by Ukrainian defender Illia Zabarnyi bounced off the crossbar.
Apart from one brief moment of lovely skill from the twinkle toes of Kudus, who performed some trickery in the middle of the field, the first half was easily forgotten from a West Ham perspective.
No shots on target and boos greeted the half-time whistle.
The second half did improve, from an entertainment point of view, and Niclas Fullkrug came off the bench to score his first goal in front of home fans since his £27.5million arrival last summer from Borussia Dortmund.
The German giant, who has had a series of different injuries, scored with a powerful header that Kepa, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, had no chance of stopping.
Bowen, who will soon get married to celebrity/influencer Dani Dyer, joined in with the fun and scored with a brilliant header himself – his first goal at home in 2025.
Yet West Ham’s luck was popped by the Cherries and Brazilian No9 Evanilson scored at the back post from a Dean Huijsen header, which survived a VAR offside check for Ben Winterburn.
Semenyo may have given the visitors a grandstand finish but his attempt was saved well by Areola.
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When the full-time whistle was blown, most of the West Ham fans could barely bother to boo and several of their stars dropped to their knees with fatigue.
For many, the summer break cannot come quick enough.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
