West Ham United held AFC Bournemouth to a 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium. Lucas Paqueta’s penalty was cancelled by a gorgeous free-kick from Enes Unal that pulled the Cherries back into the game.
Bournemouth pushed for a winner, but West Ham held on to take a point from a difficult ground. The Hammers will bemoan a late mistake from Konstantinos Mavropanos, who gave away a needless free-kick that the Turkiye international converted with aplomb.
West Ham stay 14th, but with four points from their past two games, manager Julen Lopetegui will breathe a sigh of relief. His job was at stake, but these results will buy him some time.
Former France international and CBS Sports pundit Thierry Henry believes West Ham should give Lopetegui more time at the helm.
Henry said (via the [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/live/cj0rzpvqmzet?post=asset%3Ab14a20d4-bfb4-47e5-a757-f90097fae18a#post)): “They showed me something that I didn’t see for a little while at West Ham, especially this season. They showed me that they could play, and at one point, they had to be resilient, away from home, against a team that at times is going to push them – they did.
“I hope that they can give him (Lopetegui) time to perform and show what he is about.”
West Ham came close to taking the lead early on through captain and talisman Jarrod Bowen, but his stunning shot clipped the bar. Bournemouth had a clear-cut chance, but Dango Ouattara missed from point-blank range.
Lukasz Fabianski made himself massive to keep out the ball, and the Polish goalkeeper enjoyed another decent outing since usurping the starting berth from the dreadful [Alphonse Areola](https://westhamblog.co.uk/posts/4-56-worst-in-the-premier-league-egregious-stat-shows-west-ham-must-upgrade-key-position-view/).
West Ham will hope to keep up this decent run of form when they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to the London Stadium this weekend. Another win will go a long way to ensuring Lopetegui gets enough time to implement his vision at the club.
The individual quality at Lopetegui’s disposal merits better showings. Mohammed Kudus, Paqueta, Crysencio Summerville, and Bowen all have the qualities to compete in the upper echelon as Bournemouth are doing.
Despite boasting several exciting attackers, West Ham did not create clear chances against Bournemouth.
Defensively, they have been better over the past few weeks, but there is room for improvement. Lopetegui still has to prove himself. His inability to instil a sense of identity or cohesion in the team is a concern. A change in manager cannot be dismissed.