Bournemouth 1-0 Fulham: Premier League – live reaction
Key events
“With the race for eighth Spandex-tight, it will be an entertaining dance until the music stops,” says Peter Oh. “One might say it’s a Spandex Ballet. This much is true.”
Bournemouth have equalled their highest Premier League points tally with six games remaining.
Full time: Bournemouth 1-0 Fulham
Bournemouth move up to eighth after ending a run of six Premier League wins. An enjoyable, fast-paced game was settled by Antoine Semenyo’s classy first-minute goal, which ended his own goal drought.
The race for eighth place, which should bring a European place, is Spandex-tight. Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton are all on 48 points with six games remaining; Bournemouth’s goal difference gives them the advantage.
90+4 min Lewis Cook is booked for an attempted tactical foul on Traore.
90+2 min Robinson hangs up a cross that is well claimed by Kepa at the far post. He collides with his own player Huijsen in the process and will need some treatment.
90 min Five minutes of added time.
89 min: Bournemouth substitution Julio Soler replaces the goalscorer Antoine Semenyo.
88 min Willian, on the left, clips an excellent pass into the box towards Cairney. He lobs it into the six-yard box, where Huijsen gets in front of Jimenez to chest the ball behind for a corner.
Willian takes, Kepa punches clear.
86 min Adams is booked for a cynical foul on Andersen. Michael Oliver, who has had a fair bit of criticism this season, has been superb tonight.
85 min: Fulham substitution Alex Iwobi replaces Willian.
84 min Fulham win three corners in quick succession. The third is taken short and given back to Cairney, who overhits his cross. Goalkick to Bournemouth.
83 min Robinson’s dangerous cross is headed behind by Kerkez, a fine bit of defending under considerable pressure from Traore.
81 min There’s a VAR check for a Bournemouth penalty. No idea why as it was an excellent bit of goalkeeping, and after a few looks the check is complete. No harm is being sure I guess.
80 min Evanilson rolls Bassey on the edge of the area. Leno flies out, dives at Evanilson’s feet and makes another excellent save. He’s had a fine match.
78 min It’s all Fulham now. It’s not that Bournemouth have parked the bus, more that Fulham have nicked the keys and are forcing them to stay deep in their own half.
76 min Cairney, 25 yards out, shoots straight at Kepa.
74 min Kepa lives!
73 min Kepa goes down and needs treatment for an unspecified problem. Helluva coincidence given Fulham are having arguably their best spell of the game.
72 min Traore charges across the field and finds the unmarked Robinson, whose low cross is booted away. Robinson was flagged offside but I don’t think he was.
72 min A reminder that if it stays like this Bournemouth will jump from tenth to eighth, above Fulham and Brighton on goal difference with six games to play.
Eighth should be good enough for a Conference League place.
70 min Lukic’s shot from 20 yards is comfortably saved to his left by Kepa. It was a nice idea but he didn’t get the necessary curl on the shot. Says Dennis Bergkamp over here!
69 min: Fulham substitution Emile Smith Rowe on, Andreas Pereira off.
68 min Cairney is booked for an old-fashioned tackle on Semenyo.
68 min “Apart from the paperwork, it’s those wretched clock boards – I can’t imagine how you could design one that would be less economically well suited to the job,” says Charles Antaki. “Obviously heavy, with no handles, and what seem to be tiny keys which have to be pressed while balancing the board on one knee, or while trying to hold it up without anything to grip on. The old system of large cards on a sort of rolodex gizmo were probably no more efficient, but they had the added attraction of the cards flipping through the numbers, allowing you to guess when they would stop.”
Surely in this day and age the whole thing could be run on vibes?
Good save by Kepa!
67 min Plenty of Fulham pressure now. A long ball is headed on by Jimenez to Iwobi, who loses Adams with a Cruyff turn and flips a shot from 25 yards that is pawed round dramatically by the diving Kepa. A save he’d expect to make, but still a good one.
65 min: Bournemouth substitution Marcus Tavernier replaces Alex Scott, who had a decent game at No10.
64 min “Such a delight to watch Bernd Leno getting his angles right, acting with decisiveness and prioritising defending,” says Gary Naylor. “It might catch on…”
What’s that got to do with Royksopp?
63 min Kerkez, a veritable Shinkansen down Bournemouth’s left, wins a corner. It’s curled deep and headed away at the far post.
61 min Robinson pulls back Scott and is booked. He’s had a rough night and is being trounced by Kerkez in the left-back-off.
60 min Apparently Sessegnon wasn’t supposed to come off, so there was an admin error of some description. Not sure why Fulham weren’t allowed to change it, but there you go.
59 min: Triple substitution for Fulham Raul Jimenez, Tom Cairney and Adama Traore replace Rodrigo Muniz, Sander Berge and Ryan Sessegnon.
There’s a bit of a mix-up about which players should be going off and Marco Silva isn’t happy. The referee Michael Oliver comes over to the touchline. It sounds like there might have been an admin error. The substitution window lasted about two and a half minutes. Progress.
55 min: Chance for Bournemouth Adams collects a loose ball on the edge of the Fulham area and finds Ouattara. He twists Castagne one way and then the other before crossing back towards Adams, whose instinctive shot is kept out by the right leg of Leno. That’s a terrific save because all his weight was going the wrong way.
54 min Scott, under pressure from Lukic, shoots well wide from 20 yards after a good Bournemouth counter-attack.
54 min Fulham have dominated possession since half-time, and their fans roar encouragement when Robinson wins a throw-in near the corner flag. In the context of the European race, a draw would be a really good result for them.
51 min Evanilson’s okay. He was half thrown to the floor by Bassey but the pain seems to have dissipated.
50 min Evanilson is down and needs treatment. Not sure what happened but he’s holding his right shoulder.
48 min Iwobi’s pass is slightly behind Robinson, charging forward on the overlap. He puts the brakes on and slides a cutback that is cleared by a Bournemouth defender. A better pass would have allowed Robinson to leather the ball across the six-yard box.
46 min Bournemouth have made a half-time substitution: Illia Zabarnyi is on for Marcos Senesi, who was booked for that iffy tackle on Joachim Andersen just before the break.
Half-time reading
Half time: Bournemouth 1-0 Fulham
Entertaining stuff on the south coast. Antoine Semenyo ended his goal drought in the first minute after a mistake by Antonee Robinson; and though it took a while for the game to settle down, when it did both teams created some good chances. Evanilson hit the bar for Bournemouth, Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon spurned Fulham’s best opportunities.
45+2 min: Good save by Leno! Scott zips infield from the right and tries to flick the ball through to Semenyo. Instead it hits Berge and rebounds perfectly for Scott, whose first-time drive from the edge of the area is turned round the post by the sprawling Leno. Excellent goalkeeping.
45 min A terrific cross from Cook just evades two Bournemouth players in the middle. Two minutes of added time.
44 min: Check complete The VAR concludes that it was a reckless tackle, so the yellow card stands. Had Michael Oliver sent Senesi off on the field, I’m not sure it would have been overturned.
43 min Senesi is booked for a late tackle on Andersen, who looks in a fair bit of pain. He led with his studs and caught Andersen just below the shin; it’s being checked by VAR.
40 min Fulham continue to press for an equaliser. Sessegnon runs at Kerkez, who times his challenge perfectly to win a goalkick off Sessegnon. He bounces to his feet in triumph and Joelintons to the home crowd.
37 min: Big chance for Fulham! Iwobi cuts inside from the left and floats a gorgeous ball to the far post. It drops over the head of Senesi and is met by Sessegnon, who plants his header straight at Kepa from six yards.
