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West Ham’s owners have reacted to the record-breaking 0-0 draw with Bournemouth and are making a demand of head coach Nuno Espirito Santo in order to keep the club in the Premier League.
The Hammers played out a stalemate with the Cherries at the London Stadium on Saturday evening.
While it could be argued any point is precious in the battle for Premier League survival, West Ham failed to pile the pressure on Nottingham Forest by winning and drawing level on points with them ahead of their own game against Liverpool.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are now two points off Forest in the safety of 17th.
But that gap could widen to five points if the Tricky Trees get a shock win in what is new manager Vitor Pereira’s first league game in charge.
West Ham let Forest off the hook in battle for survival
Hammers News revealed earlier this month that Nuno is targeting six games West Ham must win to survive.
Bournemouth at home was one of those matches, meaning this was very much two points dropped as far as the manager is concerned.
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Jarrod Bowen had his worst game for West Ham in the draw as Forest were let off the hook.
The Hammers had 20 shots in the game but only managed to get three of them on target.
But what do the club’s board think about what they saw at the London Stadium and how it impacts the fight to stay in the Premier League?
Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images
West Ham’s owners have reacted to the record-breaking Bournemouth draw and have made a demand of Nuno.
West Ham’s 2.87 expected goals statistic from the match is officially the most recorded by a team who failed to score in a Premier League game since March 2022.
𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐦 𝟎-𝟎 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡
West Ham’s 2.87 xG is the most recorded by a team who failed to score in a Premier League game since March 2022.
Two points dropped? Sunday’s results will likely determine that.
For all the stats…: https://t.co/1R0cfKaWRM pic.twitter.com/2WJJQ3NIMy
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) February 21, 2026
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While Sunday’s results will likely determine whether it was two points dropped or not, the club’s hierarchy are looking at the situation from a different perspective.
West Ham’s owners pointed to the xG stat while explaining the result away as ‘one of those days’.
West Ham owners react to draw and make Nuno demand
But the board feel Nuno and the players must now pull a rabbit or two out of the hat in games they’re not expected to win in order to redress the balance.
“Look at the expected goals,” the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners exclusively told Hammers News.
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“Eight times out of 10 we would have won that game with that level of expected goals.
“It was just one of those days unfortunately.
“Now we need to get a result or two against one or more of the top six teams to balance out that draw.”
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
With Liverpool at Anfield up next for the Hammers, that challenge from the owners is staring Nuno and his team in the face.
With Man City, Villa and Arsenal among West Ham’s remaining fixtures there will be other chances too.
Nuno himself was in philosophical mood after the game.
The Portuguese felt it was a ‘good performance overall’ but admitted he was ‘sad about the result because we almost got there’.
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“The chances that we created could have been different, but I’m proud of the way the boys worked,” Nuno told West Ham’s website.
“There are many things that we are improving and we showed that we are resilient, we were compact, we didn’t allow chances, we had good possessions.”
West Ham will have to be all those things and more if they are to stand any chance of pulling off a shock result at Anfield next week.
If they can do that then the point against Bournemouth suddenly looks like a positive result.
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