CHERRIES were given a painful reminder they are in a battle for survival after fellow relegation candidates West Ham dished out a 4-0 beating at the Vitality.

In Cherries’ biggest defeat at home since a loss by the same scoreline to Liverpool in December 2018, they again showed their season-long weakness of conceding from set-pieces, Hammers scoring twice from corners.

Michail Antonio was left unmarked at a dead ball to give Hammers an early lead, which was quickly doubled by a Lucas Paqueta header.

Towards the tail end of the first-half, it was three, Declan Rice crashing in the rebound after Cherries survived the initial cross at a corner.

A flurry of activity off the Cherries bench did not change matters, Pablo Fornals scoring a fourth 23 minutes from time.

Head coach Gary O’Neil made one change from the side that defeated Tottenham Hotspur last time out, Adam Smith returning to the side as Matias Vina made way.

That paved the way for a return to a four-man defence, Chris Mepham partnering Jack Stephens as the centre-back pairing.

Five minutes in, Cherries found themselves behind after conceding from another set-piece.

Striker Antonio was given free roam to head home Aaron Cresswell’s corner in the six-yard box, the 19th time Cherries have been undone from dead-ball situations.

Before Cherries could muster any form of response, they trailed by two.

Lloyd Kelly’s awkward pass drew a clumsy touch from Marcus Tavernier, allowing the Hammers to advance down the right wing.

Vladimir Coufal’s floated cross to the back post saw Paqueta rise above Stephens and head home West Ham’s second.

A 2-0 lead by the 12th minute suited the visitors, who were now content to soak up pressure and hit their hosts on the break.

Jefferson Lerma had a speculative effort pushed over by Lukas Fabianski in the West Ham goal, before the Polish goalie denied Dominic Solanke with his feet.

But it would be the away side who grab the game’s next goal, doing further damage via a set-play.

Cherries just about dealt with a corner, only for Rice to convert the rebound, a deflection helping his powerful effort hit the back of the net.

Down by three at the break, O’Neil turned to Kieffer Moore to try and change his side’s fortunes.

After the physical striker made little impact in the opening stages of the second period, there was further movement on the hour mark, a triple sub of Vina, Dango Ouattara, and Jaidon Anthony coming on for Kelly, Smith, and Ryan Christie.

The injection of attacking talent did not turn the tide in Cherries’ favour, the side still struggling to get efforts on target.

If there was any doubt of West Ham’s dominance, it was made clear with their fourth.

After a sloppy Stephens pass was cut out, the Hammers whipped a ball into the box for substitute Fornals to somehow convert.

The midfielder managed to contort his body to backheel the ball past a stranded Neto.

Fans headed for the exit when it seemed West Ham had a fifth in the final stages, Maxwell Cornet's effort ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Defeat for Cherries sees them slip into 15th, below Hammers, with a five-point gap separating them from the bottom three.

Cherries: Neto; Smith (Vina, 60), Mepham, Stephens, Kelly (Ouattara, 60); Lerma (Cook, 75), Rothwell (Moore, h-t), Billing, Christie (Anthony, 60), Tavernier; Solanke.

Unused subs: Travers (g/k), Semenyo, Senesi, Zabarnyi.

Booked: Moore.

West Ham: Fabianski; Coufal (Kehrer, 83), Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell; Paqueta (Downes, 76), Soucek, Rice, Bowen (Cornet, 76), Benrahma (Fornals, 65); Antonio (Ings, 65).

Unused subs: Areola (g/k), Lanzini, Ogbonna, Palmieri.

Booked: Aguerd, Fabianski.