Bournemouth raise eyebrows with plans ahead of West Ham match, it goes against club policy
Bournemouth’s short flight to London for the West Ham clash has “raised eyebrows”.
According to the Daily Mail, Bournemouth’s squad flew to London on Friday night ahead of their Premier League game with West Ham the next day.
Even though a train from Bournemouth to Waterloo takes less than two hours and a car journey can be done in under three hours from Vitality Stadium to London Stadium, the Cherries decided to take the 20-minute flight.
The report states that this move, which seems to have been pushed for by boss Andoni Iraola, will have “raised eyebrows” as this follows six months on from Bournemouth being criticised for a similar act.
Back in August, Bournemouth bosses reportedly flew the 100-mile trip from the south coast to London for their match at Tottenham. This flies in the face of one of their policies about sustainable travel.
Bournemouth’s hypocrisy comes to the fore at West Ham
Last year, the Premier League launched its own Environmental Sustainability Strategy as part of a wider effort to make football greener.
Moreover, Bournemouth have their own seven-page sustainability policy, in which a whole section is dedicated to ‘sustainable transport’.
The club pledges to “develop a domestic travel policy that reduces reliance on air travel, considering sustainability, performance, and logistics”.
But this West Ham move from the Dorset outfit flies in the face of that. The report adds that Bournemouth and the Premier League have declined to comment on this matter.
Nuno Espirito Santo‘s West Ham and Bournemouth played out a goalless draw on Saturday evening in East London.
The result, coupled with Nottingham Forest’s late loss against Liverpool, means West Ham are two points from safety.
West Ham frustrated but close gap on relegation rivals
West Ham closed to within two points of Forest but spurned the chance to go level with the Tricky Trees after failing to break down Bournemouth.
The two teams were among the division’s form clubs, with only Chelsea and Manchester United earning more points over their previous five league matches, but it didn’t seem like it at times on Saturday.
West Ham had double the amount of shots Bournemouth mustered and chalked up an expected goals tally of 2.87 vs 0.65.
However, West Ham only had three shots on target to the away team’s five, highlighting their profligacy in front of goal.
They also had 35 touches vs 17 in the box but couldn’t find the breakthrough. Next up, West Ham are away to Liverpool on 28 February, which is a tough game on paper.
But West Ham nearly beat Manchester United, who like Liverpool are also in the top six, and had it not been for a superb Chelsea comeback, the Hammers would have won at Stamford Bridge.
There is still time to achieve a great escape but they need more wins and fast.
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