Much to the relief of Bobby Zamora in the Sky Sports studio, West Ham United managed to keep Bournemouth’s fresh-faced frontline pretty quiet in Saturday’s teatime Premier League kick-off.
While Brazilian sensation Rayan did rattle the post after one thrilling solo run, Mads Hermansen was barely called into action as the Dane kept a third clean sheet in his last four top-flight outings.
Hermansen believes West Ham are seeing ‘the real Mads’ these days. As an impressive backline marshalled by inspired January recruit Axel Disasi kept Bournemouth at arms’ length, Alphonse Areola’s successor did not have too many chances to showcase the shot-stopping talents which so often bailed out Leicester City last season.
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Amine Adli was shackled expertly on the left – Aaron Wan-Bissaka was ‘excellent’, to quote Jamie Redknapp opposite Zamora in the studio – and Evanilson barely had a kick of note inside the penalty area.
The prospect of Eli Junior Kroupi delivering a blow to West Ham United’s survival prospects, meanwhile, is one the Londoners certainly could have done without.
Twelve months after West Ham saw a deal for Kroupi fall through – Bournemouth used their shared ownership model to snatch the teenager from FC Lorient – a fine rearguard effort ensured a striker with eight goals in 11 Premier League starts would not reach nine in 12.
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Bobby Zamora hails Eli Junior Kroupi after Bournemouth snatched striker under West Ham United’s nose
Playing off Evanilson in a ‘second striker’ role, Kroupi was restricted to the odd potshot from distance in a match where an exciting crop of attacking talents struggled to ignite.
Zamora, meanwhile, sees similarities between the one-time West Ham target and Upton Park graduate Jermain Defoe.
“He’s had a great start. He’s another fantastic talent [signed by Bournemouth]. £10 million, eight goals in the Premier League at 19, that’s crazy,” said Zamora, who scored 40 goals in four years with the Hammers.
“If he can keep his head on his shoulders, the right mindset, he’s got great things ahead of him.
“He reminds me of a Jermain Defoe: quick backlift, quick strikes, and only really interested in scoring goals. He scores all different sorts of goals, too.”
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Starting off with an instinctive volley against Leeds, Kroupi’s most recent effort was a sublime dipping effort from the edge of the box in a 2-0 win at Wolves.
West Ham’s defence needed to be at their most resilient to keep him off the scoresheet here. And thanks to some good work from Tomas Soucek, Soungoutou Magassa and Mateus Fernandes ahead of them, they did exactly that on a day when the home side won the XG battle 3.15 – 0.70.
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“To be fair, West Ham had so many chances in the second-half. Good chances, as well,” added Zamora, the one-time England international who believes Nuno should be giving Callum Wilson more minutes alongside Taty Castellanos.
“They’ve been very, very positive and will be gutted – absolutely gutted – that they haven’t come away with three points.
“I do see this season going down to the last day, and this will be an important point. The way I see it, it’s another point on the board. For me, it’s a positive. The results recently have been great, and the performance today was great.
“There are so many points to go for, and so many twists and turns ahead. So, for me, it’s a positive for sure.”
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Wilson nearly broke the deadlock moments after coming on. A dart towards the near post and a typical poacher’s flick, denied by a flying Djordje Petrovic.
“Callum Wilson was probably too far away from where he wanted to be [for that chance],” Zamora explains. “He’s a little bit too far past the front post. If he’s another few yards [across], there’s a chance he gets a little bit more direction and puts it in the bottom corner.
“But he had that spark coming on. Callum came on and made a difference for sure.
“When you put two up front, you’re definitely going to keep the centre-halves occupied. Having two centre-forwards up there makes it hard for them, and it’s refreshing to see.”
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