Bournemouth have their first win of the Premier League season and no longer reside in the bottom-three of the table, after coming back to beat Burnley 2-1 at Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
The Cherries (6 points) came into matchweek 10 with just three points and were one of two winless sides (Sheffield United, still), but Andoni Iraola’s side will spend at least one night in 17th place after Antoine Semenyo and Philip Billing scored goals to snap a four-game losing streak. On the flip side, Burnley (4 points) sink to 19th in the PL table after losing their third straight.
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With Bournemouth and Burnley both feeling some early-season urgency, and the golden opportunity, to pick up a rare win, it was an open, back-and-forth game from the start.
Burnley broke the deadlock after just 11 minutes, when Charlie Taylor smashed a left-footed volley through a sea of bodies to give the hosts the lead. A corner kick came in from the far side and was initially halfway cleared, to Dara O’Shea, who cushioned the ball into Taylor’s path with his head. Taylor struck the ball after a bounce and Ionut Radu never had a chance to make the save.
11 minutes later, Bournemouth were level as Antoine Semenyo ran a one-man counter-attack into the left channel and placed a perfect outside-of-the-foot finish inside the far post without much of an angle to shoot.
The final 15 minutes were full of action as well, first when Billing put Bournemouth ahead with a long-range lob of goalkeeper James Trafford. The Danish midfielder intercepted a wayward pass just inside his own half, took a touch forward, looked up and back down quickly, another touch to set up the shot and floated a shot from just inside the center circle. Trafford got a hand on the ball as he scrambled backward, but couldn’t keep it out.
VAR controversy, questions arise again
Just before the clock reached 90 minutes, Burnley briefly thought they had drawn level through Jay Rodriguez. What ensued was a five-minute goal check by the VAR. Rodriguez was initially ruled offside, then seemingly onside by video review, though the green line appeared to cut through his head on the still image. The lines were re-drawn and eventually, after fans of both sides grew tired of waiting and sang, “This is embarrassing,” inside the ground, Rodriguez was ruled offside.
What’s next?
Bournemouth will be back in Premier League action next Saturday, away to three-time defending champions Manchester City, but first it’s a League Cup round-of-16 clash with Liverpool on Wednesday. Burnley will face Everton in the League Cup, also on Wednesday, before hosting Crystal Palace at Turf Moor, also on Saturday.
Player ratings - Bournemouth vs Burnley
Bournemouth vs Burnley, final score: 2-1
Goalscorers: Charlie Taylor (11'), Antoine Semenyo (22'), Philip Billing (76')
11th minute - GOAL - Taylor hits a screamer through traffic to put Burnley ahead
22nd minute - Semenyo finishes far post to pull Bournemouth level
76th minute - GOAL - Philip Billing lobs James Trafford from near the center circle
How to watch Bournemouth vs Burnley live, stream link, start time
Kick off: 10am ET, Saturday (October 28)
TV Channel: Peacock
Online: Stream via Peacock Premium
Bournemouth starting lineup
Radu — Aarons, Zabarnyi, Mepham, Kelly — Scott, Christie — Tavernier, Billing, Semenyo — Solanke
Focus on Bournemouth
As we said, the pressing tactics just aren’t working for Bournemouth and scoring goals is a massive problem too. This squad of players excelled in a counter-attacking system last season but this new system is taking them a long time to figure out. Will Bournemouth keep the faith in Iraola? They have to for a little while longer and the only positive for them so far this season is that they’re only two points from safety. Injuries have impacted them too but they’ve eased a little, with Tyler Adams, Ryan Fredericks and Emiliano Marcondes all out with injury and Lewis Cook suspended for this game after he was sent off against Wolves.
Burnley starting lineup
Trafford — Vitinho, Dakhil, O’Shea, Taylor — Cullen, Gudmondsson, Brownhill — Koleosho, Amdouni, Zaroury
Focus on Burnley
Despite their promotion last season and winning the Championship title at a canter, Kompany’s side had a lot of changes over the summer and so many new players are still settling in. Burnley are in limbo as they’re not quite playing the total football style which gained them promotion but they aren’t playing an ultra defensive counter-attacking style either. It’s tough to know what this Burnley side are right now. Injury-wise they have a few issues with Jordan Beyer, Hjalmar Ekdal and Jacob Brunn Larsen out, while Conor Roberts is suspended and the duo of Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Manuel Benson are battling to be fit.
