Andoni Iraola may not be following Nuno Espirito Santo’s lead by taking up horse riding, but the AFC Bournemouth boss and West Ham United’s new head coach are looking forward to challenging each other next to the football field this weekend.
In a week in which Nuno Espirito Santo opened up on his inner-cowboy – ‘when you’re [horse riding], you forget about everything else, and I enjoy it’, he said – Iraola has no plans to ask his opposite number for any equestrianism advice.
The AFC Bournemouth manager will continue using the bicycle as his preferred mode of transport for the time being.
Turning his attention to Saturday’s 3pm kick-off at the Vitality Stadium, Iraola confirmed that Bournemouth could be without star man Antoine Semenyo, as well as fellow attackers Justin Kluivert and Ben Gannon-Doak.
A West Ham United side looking to follow up successive league wins over Newcastle and Burnley, then, may head to the South Coast with a renewed sense of self-confidence. Confidence that will only grow as Bournemouth lose star forward after star forward.
Iraola, meanwhile, cannot speak highly enough of Nuno Espirito Santo.
After a miserable start, the man who took Nottingham Forest into Europe last season now has the Hammers on the verge of exiting the relegation zone for the first time since matchday three.
Andoni Iraola explains how West Ham United have ‘improved’ under Nuno Espirito Santo
West Ham will be without Lucas Paqueta away at Bournemouth. Nuno is hoping to have Freddie Potts available after he picked up a knock against Burnley, while Konstantinos Mavropanos and Niclas Fullkrug are doubts.
Yet, Iraola is not underestimating a Hammers side looking to continue their recent revival on the back of successive home league wins for the first time since October 2024.
“I think they [have] improved offensively and defensively last games,” Iraola said during his press conference on Friday. “I think the more time they obviously spend with Nuno, the better they are going to become.
“Nuno is doing very well. Nuno is a coach who was very successful, especially in the past season with Forest. He has been also successful with other clubs in the Premier League. And to win now, I think two games back-to-back, it’s very difficult in the Premier League to do this.
“I suppose they come with confidence in kind of in a good place. But we also need the points. We need to win after our last two defeats, and I hope we are ready.”
West Ham have an excellent record against Bournemouth
West Ham have not lost to Bournemouth in the Premier League since 2019. Saturday’s visitors to the Vitality Stadium have won four of their last nine meetings between the two sides, drawing the other five.
“I know that I think all the games we’ve played against West Ham in the league, we were reviewing this week, have been draws. I think it’s 1-1, 1-1, 1-1 and 2-2, something like this,” adds Iraola.
“So all the games have been very, very, very levelled. And if we want to make the difference, I think we will have to be at our best.”
The admiration is no cul-de-sac. Nuno is as big a fan of Iraola, it seems, as Iraola is of Nuno.
Nuno hails Bournemouth’s bouncebackability after so many sales
While a Declan Rice-shaped void remains at the heart of West Ham’s engine room two and a half years after his move to Arsenal, Bournemouth have bounced back impressively from the losses of Milos Kerkez, Dean Huijsen, Ilya Zabarnyi and Dango Ouattara.
“It says a lot about his quality [that Bournemouth are still performing well],” Nuno says of Iraola. “Some players go and you bring in good players, also. Bournemouth is a very good team and Andoni, I admire.
“More than anything, what we are going to face at Bournemouth on Saturday is a tough, tough opponent.
What I know watching those [Newcastle and Burnley wins] back, doesn’t really matter. What you did before – good or bad – its finished. It’s going to be a new game on Saturday.
“Of course, we can look and take aspects, but it’s a new game. Believe me, it’s always something new that’s going to happen. We achieved something really good for us, but it’s over. We are always trying to compete the same, home or away.
“We are still chasing that aspect of the game, to sustain our levels of performances. It is a challenge for us to do that.
“I admire [Iraola]. I think he’s doing an amazing job at Bournemouth. He’s a nice guy but we are going to be opponents. Two teams fighting for the same goal.”
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