West Ham United moved further clear of the relegation zone thanks to a 4-0 victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon.
Off the back of impressive victories last time out, both teams made a fast start to the contest as they looked to lay down an early marker.
However, it was West Ham who broke the deadlock after just four minutes through Aaron Cresswell's inviting corner, which was expertly headed home by Michail Antonio for his third goal in two matches.
Buoyed by their opening goal, David Moyes's men continued to assert themselves and came close to doubling their advantage, but Said Benrahma was unable to get the better of Neto.
Barely a minute later and it was 2-0 to West Ham and yet another headed goal conceded by Bournemouth, as Lucas Paqueta got on the end of Vladimir Coufal's cross to finish from close range.
Having gone two down in front of their fans, Bournemouth had no choice but to up the ante at the attacking end of the pitch, and they so nearly halved the deficit just shy of the half-hour mark.
Jefferson Lerma launched a blistering strike from the edge of the box, which needed a strong right hand from Lukasz Fabianski to palm the ball away from danger.
Off the back of a period of sustained pressure where Bournemouth were seemingly on course to get themselves back on track, the Cherries conceded a third a few minutes before the break.
Once again, Gary O'Neil's men exhibited their frailties from set pieces as another Cresswell delivery found its way to Declan Rice via a deflection, and the midfielder picked his spot with aplomb to follow up on his goalscoring heroics in midweek.
That brought the first half to a close as the Hammers headed into the break in cruise control of a crunch relegation six-pointer.
As the second half kicked off, Bournemouth unsurprisingly made an attacking substitution with Kieffer Moore coming on for Joe Rothwell.
Moore was booked within two minutes of his introduction, but the 30-year-old soon showed a glimpse of why he was brought on as he flashed a header wide for his side's first effort of the second period.
Looking to pick up where he left off before half time, Antonio was soon threatening the Bournemouth goal once again, although he could only manage to drag his shot wide this time around.
That proved to be the start of a good spell for West Ham as the visitors moved the ball about with real swagger.
A fourth goal for the Londoners looked to be around the corner, and it deservingly arrived in the 72nd minute when Pablo Fornals showed great improvisation to turn home Jarrod Bowen's delivery.
With the game effectively over as a contest, Bournemouth continued to press forward in search of a consolation, and the hosts should have pulled one back 10 minutes from time.
Moore was presented with a golden opportunity to get himself on the scoresheet from Marcus Tavernier's cross, but the forward failed to keep his effort on target.
Down the other end, West Ham continued to push forward and had the ball in the net for a fifth time on the afternoon, only for the VAR to chalk off what would have been Maxwel Cornet's first Premier League goal for his new employers.
On that note, the action came to an end at the Vitality Stadium as West Ham moved up to 13th in the Premier League table, while Bournemouth remain 15th, five points clear of the drop zone. body check tags ::
