Antonio relieved to make amends with win

West Ham was handed a lifeline with just under 15 minutes remaining as Arter, who earlier fell foul of new directives to enforce bookings for dissent, received his marching orders after he pulled back Cheikhou Kouyate.

In the day’s other game, Cristhian Stuani netted a stunning brace as Middlesbrough beat local rivals Sunderland 2-1 in the Tees-Wear derby to register a first victory since securing promotion from the Championship. “As long as we are winning, competing for something and they are happy, we are going to pack this stadium”.

Eight minutes later Antonio popped up with the ground’s first Premier League goal, a far-post header from Gokhan Tore’s left-wing cross.

He told West Ham’s official website.

But the home supporters endured a nervous wait for the celebrations to begin with Slaven Bilic’s side looking hesitant in the absence of injured forwards Andre Ayew, Andy Carroll and Dimitri Payet, only breaking through in the 85th minute.

“There is no point in moaning, we know the situation”.

West Ham dominated possession in the first half but only forced one save out of Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc, when Enner Valencia broke free but saw his shot pushed out.

“It was a tight game with few chances”, Bournemouth manager Howe told Sky Sports.

The visitors withstood sustained pressure after the interval when Sunderland hit back through Patrick van Aanholt and then pushed for the victor, but Boro held on to record their first victory since returning to the top flight this season.

Speaking after the match, Hammers boss, Slaven Bilic, said: “We didn’t expect to play great football and play like Brazil and pass, pass, pass because, with the greatest respect, we were missing four of our most-creative players”.

The Twitter user, who goes only by the name of Paul on the social media website, wrote: “Block 214 row 73 no seats!”

“You want your players to be as comfortable as possible”, he said.

“We are working really hard. We just have to play differently”.