If West Ham are gradually moving on up then Bournemouth may be regressing to their mean. Gary O’Neil ended the game wagging his fingers in the direction of the referee, David Coote, and repeatedly railed against the decisions of VAR Mike Dean but the greater Premier League experience and squad depth had told.
The VAR controversy this time was over Thilo Kehrer’s handball in the buildup to Kurt Zouma’s opening goal and a handball by Jordan Zemura that led to Saïd Benrahma’s late, decisive penalty. Bournemouth had also escaped what looked a plum red card for Jefferson Lerma’s high lunge on Gianluca Scamacca.
