Summer Series in the A: West Ham United Finished Strong Against Bournemouth

West Ham United finishes the Summer Series on a high note after beating AFC Bournemouth 2-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

Bournemouth started the first half with control and pinned West Ham into their own half. In the 8th minute, Tyler Adams switched the play to connect to Marcus Tavernier on the left side of the field. Tavernier drove down the left flank and found Evanilson inside the box with a great cross, but the Brazilian put the shot off the post.

Bournemouth continued the early onslaught as Tavernier fired a shot into the side netting in the 13th minute.

Even though Bournemouth had more opportunities, it was West Ham who got on the board first. In the 25th minute, El Hadji Malick Diouf floated a beautiful ball to Jarrod Bowen on the back post inside the 6-yard box. Bowen tried a full volley, mishit it, but the ball stayed with him and he slotted a pass to Niclas Fullkrug who easily converted for the opening goal.

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

After a back and fourth start to the second half, Diouf and Bowen would connect once again in the 68th minute. Diouf continued his Man of the Match performancewith another beauty of a cross that did connect to Bowen in the box and put it past Neto to make it 2-0 for West Ham.

"When we came back through the door to start the pre season, you obviously want to improve week by week, and I think we certainly have done that. We've picked up some really good results, even though today maybe we didn't play our best, but the manager reminded us that every week is not going to be pretty," said midfielder James Ward-Prowse in a SDH Network exclusive with Jon Nelson. "It's not going to be free flow and easy football that we want to play. You're going to have to dig in deep, you're going to have to grind our results and keep clean sheets. So I think we're in a really positive place, and I think we're going home very, very happy."

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

While Bournemouth continued to find moments in the match and dominated the stat sheet, they unfortunately couldn't find a goal to show for it. Even though Andoni Iraoloa's side didn't get the W, their are a lot of positives to continue to build before the Premier League season begins. Graham Potter's side come away with their second win in the Summer Series.

"I thought we dominated the game in large parts of it. Couldn't put our chances away. Obviously, we had the one in the first half, you put that one away and you are probably in a better place. You know you can score against them there, but it was just one of those things where the ball wouldn't go in the back of the net for us," said Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott.

"We definitely played well and we can keep out heads held high. we are disappointed with the loss, but think we played pretty well."

Photos by Sofia Cupertino

The 2025/2026 Premier League season kicks off Friday, August 15th as Liverpool will face AFC Bournemouth at 3:00 p.m. West Ham's season begins the following day as they are on the road to face newly promoted Sunderland at 10:00 a.m.