A €100m bargain and Spurs, Nottingham Forest truths emerge in frustrating West Ham point | OneFootball

It was a game dictated by the sort of bursting, fearless, incisive runs provided by Rayan and Crysencio Summerville, but ultimately defined by neither.

One clipped the outside of the post at the end of his dash at panicked, backtracking defenders, while the other cut straight through an undermanned middle before playing in a team-mate.

As was the case for the majority of the previous 90 minutes, that stoppage-time effort was skewed wide. Jarrod Bowen buckled under pressure from Adrien Truffert, who arguably committed a foul in trying to stop the shot but escaped even the suggestion of a penalty because the West Ham forward Got The Shot Away.

The hosts would have contrived to miss the penalty anyway on all prior evidence. West Ham were very good, as has been the case recently under Nuno Espirito Santo, with all but two of their starting outfielders mustering at least one shot.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf, the two exceptions, were wonderful in defence and both created a chance apiece.

This was not a free-flowing, ultra-attacking West Ham performance – much of it still ran through Bowen or revolved around the movement of Summerville – but they look less like a relegation-threatened team with each game.

There was a mild sense of two points having been dropped but with 11 games to play and momentum firmly on their side over Spurs and Nottingham Forest, it was another step in the right direction for the Hammers.

And Rayan’s stunning drive from the middle of his own half deep into West Ham territory, riding a Mateus Fernandes before drifting inside Diouf and kissing the woodwork with a curling shot at the end of an 80-yard run, was a reminder that this particular Premier League season of physicality, duels and aggression will more often than not be defined simply by the moments such game-breaking players can conjure.

Bournemouth have certainly unearthed one in their 19-year-old Brazilian gem; Rayan alone is a compelling riposte to the idea that there is no value in the January transfer window.

The €100m release clause in his contract, which is thought to become active in the summer of 2027, will likely trigger a similar chase to that which delivered Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City last month.

It isn’t difficult to envisage West Ham as a Premier League entity under Nuno by that point, which cannot be said of Igor Tudor’s Spurs or the Vitor Pereira vintage of Nottingham Forest, even with their blistering start.

Andoni Iraola described it as “a good point” for Bournemouth, extending as it did their seven-game unbeaten run which has lifted them up to 8th. Even though they could and perhaps should have further reeled in those immediately above them, with time on their side West Ham would surely agree.