West Ham United's Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia responded to Harry Arter's first-half strike by contributing to a 3-1 comeback victory at the Vitality Stadium this evening.

Slaven Bilic's side remain in the hunt for a European spot as they now sit just one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League table.

Bournemouth had the chance to go above Chelsea in the standings, but it was not to be as they have suffered only their second defeat in nine games.

The visitors started the stronger of the two sides as Valencia came close to opening the scoring inside the first minute after chasing down a poor back pass from Simon Francis, but Artur Boruc was able to force it away after coming off his line.

Steve Cook and Charlie Daniels struggled to cope with Andy Carroll's aerial presence, but they did not have to struggle for long as the West Ham striker was taken off in the 13th minute with what appeared to be a muscle problem.

After a shaky period for Bournemouth, Eddie Howe's side managed to swing the momentum as Arter scored in the 17th minute with a 25-yard shot, which awkwardly bounced in front of goalkeeper Adrian.

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The West Ham shot-stopper got a hand to it, but he was not strong enough to push the ball away and the home side celebrated taking the lead in front of their home fans.

With the wind in their sails, Bournemouth continued to press and new signing Benik Afobe came very close to opening his account for the club when the ball was whipped in from the right-hand side, but he could only blaze his close-range header over the bar.

Minutes later, Afobe came close again, and should have been celebrating his second goal but he squandered another great chance to get his debut off to a flying start.

Junior Stanislas sent a perfectly-weighted through-ball into the feet of Afobe, who had just Adrian to beat, but the striker's first touch was poor and the ball bobbled away from him.

Towards the end of the half, West Ham had two decent opportunities to get on the scoresheet, but Boruc pulled off two great saves to deny the visiting team.

The first came from substitute Nikica Jelavic, whose cross-turned-shot from the right side of the penalty area was stopped by Boruc's left hand, and the second was a shot from the middle of the area by Payet, which was tipped over the bar.

The visitors ended the half with momentum and they kept it going at the start of the second half as they immediately went on the front foot.

Valencia came close to equalising when he received a perfect through-ball from the middle of the park, but the forward's first touch let him down and Boruc was able to claim the ball.

Valencia tried again a few minutes later and he lined up a 20-yard shot, but his attempt missed the target and flew over the bar and into the stands.

In the first 20 minutes of the second half, the visitors had the majority of possession, while Bournemouth camped back in their own half with the idea of counter-attacking when possible.

West Ham eventually found the breakthrough from a set piece when Dimitri Payet, from 25 yards out, curled the ball over the wall and into the net from the underside of the bar.

The turnaround continued when Valencia picked the ball up in the box before smashing it into the ceiling of the net with his first touch in the 74th minute.

Bournemouth had a mountain to climb, but all hopes were ended when Valencia scored a thumping goal from a free kick, leaving the Cherries dead and buried.

West Ham are now on a winning run of four games in all competitions.