West Ham vs Bournemouth: Slaven Bilic defends 'brilliant' London Stadium atmosphere after late home win
The away section was heard to sing 'Is this the Emirates?' at one stage during the game
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Your support makes all the difference.Slaven Bilic hailed West Ham United’s supporters for the noise created during his side’s narrow 1-0 victory over ten-man Bournemouth, their first league game at the new London Stadium.
Michail Antonio headed home from close range late on to raise the club-record 56,977 attendance off their seats after Harry Arter had seen red for the visitors.
Bilic made a point of praising the atmosphere in his post-match press conference, despite the travelling supporters asking their hosts: “Is this the Emirates?”
“The atmosphere inside the stadium was brilliant,” he said. "The fans helped big time with the atmosphere.
"You know I was a big fan of Upton Park. You know I'm not paid to hail new stadium if I don't like, but I felt it was proper today.
"If we didn't win people would start asking questions, 'Is it a proper home?'," he added. “It's like a snowball so now hopefully we stopped it - with a great team spirit."
The Croatian went on to confirm that Andy Carroll, who picked up an injury in Thursday’s 1-1 Europa League qualifier draw with Astra Giurgiu, will be unavailable for four weeks.
West Ham currently lead the Premier League’s injury table with eight absentees, though Bilic believes Manuel Lanzini and talisman Dimitri Payet could return for the return leg against the Romanian side.
"Lanzini and Payet should be back on Thursday and if not Thursday then Sunday," he said.
"With Andy and Andre Ayew it's long term. Are we going to be very active? We're going to try to find a good one."
Eddie Howe, the Bournemouth manager, lamented Arter’s sending off for a second bookable offence, having seen his side create the best opportunities in a game of few chances.
Arter picked up his first caution for dissent, in line with new regulations targeting players who talk back to officials.
"I thought it was our game for the taking but for a lack of discipline," he said. "We've all been told about that (the crackdown on dissent). We have to be better on that.
"I thought we had the best opportunities in the game and weren't clinical enough. How we haven't scored at the end I don't know.”
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