Bournemouth ended a six-game winless league run with a 1-0 dwelling victory over Fulham as Antoine Semenyo’s objective contained in the opening minute reignited their hopes of European qualification.
Semenyo capitalised on Antonee Robinson’s mistake to arrow a low end into the underside nook after simply 53 seconds on the Vitality Stadium.
It proved to be the distinction between the 2 European-chasing sides as Bournemouth leapfrogged Fulham into eighth on objective distinction, with the highest eight more likely to be sufficient to qualify for Europe except Crystal Palace win the FA Cup.
Participant scores:
Bournemouth: Kepa (7); Smith (7), Senesi (6), Huijsen (8), Kerkez (7); Adams (7), Prepare dinner (7); Ouattara (7), Scott (7); Semenyo (8); Evanilson (6).
Subs: Zabarnyi (6), Tavernier (6), Soler (n/a).
Fulham: Leno (7); Castagne (6), Andersen (6), Bassey (6), Robinson (5); Berge (6), Lukic (6); Sessegnon (6), Pereira (6), Iwobi (6); Muniz (6).
Subs: Traore (6), Jimenez (6), Cairney (6), Smith Rowe (6), Willian (n/a).
Participant of the Match: Dean Huijsen.
Following the victory, match-winner Semenyo revealed Cherries boss Andoni Iraola had billed the sport as “make-or-break” for his or her season.
The 25-year-old instructed Sky Sports activities: “The win was positively important for us. The supervisor has been saying all week that it’s a make-or-break recreation for us.
“We got here into the sport wanting to provide our all and you can see on the finish within the celebrations that it meant loads. It has been a tricky couple of weeks, however it’s good to be again on the board.”
Bournemouth’s lightning-quick begin almost rewarded them with two targets as Evanilson struck the bar from shut vary within the seventeenth minute. It was the twenty first time the south coast aspect have struck the woodwork within the Premier League this season, greater than every other aspect.
One other first-minute objective this season…
The opening objective of the sport, at 53 seconds, is the ninth to come back within the opening minute of the 2024-25 Premier League season, with solely 2022-23 seeing extra (10).
However Fulham missed two superb probabilities to equalise earlier than half-time. First, Rodrigo Muniz dragged a shot large within the thirty first minute after a defensive mix-up between Bournemouth centre-backs Dean Huijsen and Marcos Senesi, who had been beginning a league recreation collectively for the primary time.
Simply six minutes later, the unmarked Ryan Sessegnon headed straight at Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Marco Silva’s aspect continued to push for an equaliser within the second half, and the Fulham head coach’s frustrations elevated following confusion round a triple substitution which noticed Sessegnon taken off by mistake.
Silva confirmed to Sky Sports activities after the sport that he wished to deliver off left-back Robinson, blaming a “lack of communication” between the fourth official and his workers for Sessegnon incorrectly coming off for Adama Traore.
The Cherries then weathered the Fulham strain to carry on for a primary win in 9 video games in all competitions, which catapults them again into European competition and ranges their highest Premier League factors tally with 48 factors.
Workforce information
Bournemouth made one change from the draw at West Ham as Marcos Senesi changed the benched Illia Zabarnyi at centre-back, however key participant Justin Kluivert remained absent with damage.
Fulham had been unchanged from their 3-2 dwelling victory over Premier League leaders Liverpool final weekend.
Iraola: Win comes at ‘excellent second’
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola chatting with Sky Sports activities:
“Very happy with the efficiency. I believe we wanted this efficiency, to defend our personal field effectively, the clearances, the blocks, the fundamentals, the set performs.
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Semenyo provides Bournemouth the lead
“To complete with a clear sheet is so helpful as a result of usually offensively once we create probabilities we rating targets, defensively the place we’ve got lacked one thing in current video games, and immediately we had been superb defensively.
“This win comes within the excellent second. Subsequent week we’ve got one other of those video games in opposition to Crystal Palace away, identical as Fulham they’re enjoying very effectively so let’s get better effectively, get better a few of the gamers that we’ve got and arrive in a great place.
“Each result’s going to be key. The standings have been actually shut in the previous few months.
“I do not suppose we’ve got a simple schedule so we’ve got to be superb.”
Silva: First 25 minutes value us
Fulham head coach Marco Silva chatting with Sky Sports activities:
“Within the first minute, we conceded a very sloppy objective, however we had 95 minutes extra to play and alter issues.
“We knew within the first minutes it was necessary to take easy and proper selections, easy selections. The primary 25 minutes confirmed we weren’t on the stage. You must attain the identical depth as the opposite aspect.
“The response after that was good and we had probabilities to equalise. The second half we managed the sport and we pushed them again. Kepa took a while to go down at the least thrice, all that stuff, to interrupt our momentum.
“We threw all the pieces away with our first 25 minutes.”
