Assuming he has no great unfulfilled ambition to play his football in China, West Ham shouldn’t deliberate too long on that Callum Wilson fella. He carries a hefty valuation at £50m-plus, but half-volleys like the one that won this game will only drive the price up.
It really was a superb strike, a dose of perfection in technique and rather pretty on the eye, too. Lukasz Fabianski saw the whole thing unfold, from the tackle, to the bounce, to the cleanest of strikes from 25 or so yards, and still he didn’t even move.
It was a goal from the moment it was hit and a masterclass in timing in all senses of the word.
Callum Wilson got to the ball on the edge of the box and fired in a first-time shot without any hesitation
The strike is excellent and goes straight into the top left corner to give Eddie Howe's side the lead in the second half
Wilson celebrates breaking the deadlock with team-mates David Brooks, Steve Cook and Ryan Fraser
Bournemouth (4-4-2): Boruc 6; Clyne 7, S Cook 6.5, Ake 7, Smith 6.5; Brooks 7.5 (Mousset 90), Gosling 6.5, Lerma 7, Fraser 7 (Daniels 90); King 6, Wilson 8 (Stanislas 73, 6)
Subs not used: Begovic, Simpson, Rico, Daniels, Surman
Eddie Howe 7
West Ham (4-3-3): Fabianski 7, Zabaleta 6.5, Diop 6.5, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 6; Noble 7 (Diangana 78), Rice 6, Nasri 6 (Snodgrass 66, 6); Antonio 5.5, Carroll 4.5 (Hernandez 66, 6), Anderson 5.5.
Subs not used: Adrian, Masuaku, Obiang, Xande Silva
Bookings: Carroll
Manuel Pellegrini 5.5
Ref: Simon Hooper 6
Att: 10,495
MOM: Callum Wilson
Callum Wilson broke the deadlock with a first-time strike from the edge of the area in the second half. CLICK HERE to see more from Sportsmail's MATCH ZONE
Great timing for Bournemouth, whose form had been utterly miserable. And great timing also in the context of West Ham’s search for Marko Arnautovic’s replacement, based on the likelihood that he will be in China sooner rather than later.
They like the look of Wilson, irrespective of what Manuel Pellegrini might say publicly, and the primary mystery is whether they will spend the sort of money necessary to get him if Arnautovic does go. The secondary question is whether Wilson would even want to go, given Chelsea are looking and the feeling is that this player, on 10 goals for the season and five assists, could go to a leading club if he finally gets a lucky break with injuries.
Bournemouth will fight to keep him, though. His importance to Eddie Howe is obvious and was underlined here with a win that was vitally important. They had lost 11 in their previous 14 games in all competitions and taken just seven points from 12 fixtures in the league. Dire, a freefall, even if the table didn’t show the scale of the emergency.
David Brooks sprayed a pass out to Joshua King and he has an easy job to slot the ball into an empty net to make it 2-0
Relief for the Cherries as King celebrated doubling the home side's advantage in stoppage time at the Vitality Stadium
Bournemouth won for the first time in six matches having lost four of their last five games in all competitions
In that context, West Ham were not ideal opponents. They had six wins in nine and a fair wind behind them in away games. A good outfit, far more than one player in Arnautovic.
Perhaps luckily for Bournemouth, then, this was a game when Pellegrini’s side was woeful. They had one shot on
