Bournemouth 0 Tottenham 2
The Cherries came into this game still looking for their first win of the season, with only a single point to their name, as they welcomed Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham to the Vitality Stadium. Andoni Iraola was finding life hard following in the footsteps of Gary O’Neil.
Previous Bournemouth managers had made this a difficult place to come but it just does not seem to be clicking for the Spaniard as they aimed to finally get their season started. Whereas Tottenham, who had only ever lost at Bournemouth twice in their history, arrived on the south coast full of confidence.
The North Londoners started in positive fashion and put The Cherries on the back foot and as the ball was worked to Maddison in the box, he turned and shot, only to see his effort blocked. The replay showed that it struck Aarons' arm in a very unnatural position but the VAR guys must have been getting the coffees in as it went unpunished.
Justice was seemingly served as Sarr threaded in Maddison who tucked it passed the Bournemouth keeper to silence the already quiet home fans with only 17 minutes on the clock. It was the former Leicester man’s first goal in a Tottenham shirt to boot.
Credit: @SpursOfficial
Up until now, a list of all the Australians to prove successful in North London would be an A-Z of bar staff in the area but Ange Postecoglou is looking to change all that. His Spurs side are still unbeaten this season and recovering well from the departure of Harry Kane to Germany.
Pape Sarr seems to be blossoming after his goal for Tottenham against Man Utd and he came close once again as Son found him but his left-footed shot was easily saved by Neto in the Bournemouth goal.
Iraola’s team seem to be lacking firepower, a bit like the Taliban before Allied forces decided to put boots on ground in the region. Sadly it seems their fans are feeling this to be the case as the Vitality Stadium held an atmosphere about as intimidating as a trip to Tunbridge Wells.
Maddison was pulling the strings as he ventured forward, spotting the run of Richarlison with an excellent pass, the Brazilian was unable to finish despite rounding the keeper. The Tottenham striker seems like he couldn’t score in a brothel with a handful of fifties at the moment.
Remarkably the player has in fact notched fifty goals in the Premier League at past clubs but you could be forgiven for thinking that they may have all been scored on FIFA as opposed to the pitch, as he tries to fill the boots of the recently departed Kane.
Just before half-time, the hosts managed to create their only real chance as Kluivert found Billing in the box but the midfielder swept his left-footed shot just wide of the Tottenham post. Something for the home fans to finally get excited about at least.
Credit: @SpursOfficial
The one huge positive for The Cherries in the early part of this season has been the form of Semenyo, whose creativity from midfield has caused all of their opponents problems. He did just this as the second-half got started but his left-footed effort nestled into the side netting.
Spurs came forward with Udogie playing a neat one-two to see him get to the byline where he managed to cut the ball back for Kulusevski who side-footed the ball passed the hapless Neto in the Bournemouth goal.
Perisic riled up the home fans as he seemed to push Aarons in the face off the ball but luckily the hosts knew they had the protection of video footage to help the referee who had not seen the incident. Until VAR decided this was just a yellow card and Cherries’ fans knew this was not to be their day.
Postecgolou’s team are trying to spread the pressure of the missing Harry Kane goals and as Son was found in the box, he laid it off to Davies on the edge of the box, but his effort was high, wide and not so handsome.
Tottenham secured all three points with the away fans singing ‘we’ve got our Tottenham back’ as the game ended. Early confidence from the North Londoners, never seen that come back to bite them in the past so this should all be good. Bournemouth may have to speed past a police car in the team bus if they are hoping to pick up some points at the moment though.
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