The VAR controversy this time involved Thilo Kehrer’s handball on Kurt Zouma’s opening goal and a Jordan Zemura handball that led to Saïd Benrahma’s late, decisive penalty. Bournemouth also escaped what looked like a plum red card for Jefferson Lerma’s high bite on Gianluca Scamaka. “Since I’ve been here, there’s been 10 serious VAR checks and none of them have got us,” said O’Neil, speaking like a bitter old hand rather than someone eight games into his ancient coaching career. Lerma’s crimes went unreported and a tenure as caretaker manager that took in three British prime ministers and two monarchs is entering its first recession. “It will be difficult for a team that has just been promoted to the Premier League against good opposition,” he admitted. The defeat at the London Stadium, Bournemouth’s second in successive games, saw West Ham rain down on 20 shots to five faced by Lukasz Fabianski, at the cost of injuries to key striker Dominic Solanke and first-choice goalkeeper Neto. “Solanke is a massive player for us and we have to be without him,” O’Neill said. Solanke left the field wearing a protective boot. The Premier League’s smallest, perhaps least distinguished side, have three games to go until their World Cup break is earned. “I haven’t seen any of the incidents,” said David Moyes. “But our performance deserved better goals than what we got. We definitely deserved to win the game.” His team maintains the useful habit of digging out the win when the pressure is on. They had started in 17th place but climbed to the comfort of 10th place after weekend wins over Leicester and Aston Villa were unhelpful for a team 12 points worse off at this stage last season. The threat of a relegation battle has been offset by an October in which only Liverpool have beaten West Ham in five games. It was Bournemouth’s third win in that run. Thilo Kehrer looks to handle the ball in the build-up to Kurt Zouma’s goal. Photo: David Klein/Reuters By the closing stages, when O’Neil said his side had “camped West Ham”, Bournemouth sat deep and in numbers, as you’d expect from an outfit that averaged 7.8 shots per game before from the match represented an all-time Premier. Low league. And yet Fabianski was the first goalkeeper called upon to smother Solanke’s effort. However, neither team looked particularly strong. West Ham had scored just two goals in the previous half of the league all season. Flynn Downes’ aggression and runs from deep to support Gianluca Scamakka at center forward were the most impressive feature of the first half. The midfielder’s chance to score West Ham’s first goal came from Ben Johnson’s cross but the shot was blocked. “Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek have had slow starts and are starting to find their feet and we are trying to bring in new players,” said Moyes. “Now our performance in the league has started to improve and we are chasing the teams above us in the league.” When Neto went off with a muscle injury, the Brazilian only lasted until half-time and was replaced by the Republic of Ireland’s Mark Travers. Perhaps the visitors’ best chance came after Sucek, having failed to look up, inadvertently played in Solanke. It was to prove fatal. The forward was hit by Kehrer as he shot and limped off to be replaced by the giant – and effective – Kieffer Moore. This was immediately preceded by West Ham’s controversial opener. After Jarrod Bowen’s corner, Zouma nodded and while Kehrer’s volley-like layup looked clear and obvious, the VAR passed. Start your evenings with the Guardian’s view of the world of football Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “It’s 100 times over 100 handball,” raged O’Neil. “I thought it was a terrible decision.” The explanation given was that Kehrer’s intervention was neither intentional nor immediately preceding the goal. the ball had come off Bournemouth’s header to Zouma. Then came Lerma’s fall to Scamacca, almost to the knee. This was deemed a yellow rather than a red, the Colombian very lucky that Scamacca played instead of being sent off. Moyes brought on the hustle of Michail Antonio to pick apart Bournemouth’s defense but struggled to keep the ball up. That called Bournemouth. The aerial power of Philip Billing and Moore were at the forefront of the attempted comeback, only for VAR to intervene again. Zemura, as a substitute, and sliding off the pitch, could not get away from Vladimir Coufal’s cross. “Unlucky,” O’Neill said. “His hand was on the way back.” Penalty awarded, Benrahma missed, West Ham’s route to mid-table was mapped out. It is Bournemouth, for all O’Neill’s sense of injustice, who must begin to look down.
