Wolves 0 Bournemouth 1
Gary O’Neil welcomed his old employers to Molineux as Bournemouth came to town. After being sacked by The Cherries, this is always going to be a game where the manager feels he has a point to prove. His side have struggled for form of late amidst an injury crisis.
The visitors were the first to call either keeper into action in this game. Semenyo looked to shoot from the edge of the box but his effort took a big deflection. Jose Sa did well to adjust and get down to turn the shot away from goal.
Sarabia was looking in the mood for goals and tried to bend one in the far corner from distance. Stand-in keeper Travers made a superb save to deny him, diving full-stretch to get to the far corner of the goal. The effort livened up the home fans a little as well.
Bournemouth almost scored a ‘goal of the month’ contender as Solanke laid the ball off to Kluivert in the box. A sublime flick laid it into the path of Kerkez who tried to bend his effort into the far corner but Jose Sa was to deny them once again.
Credit: @Wolves
Kluivert made a run into space, behind the Wolves defence but he just could not beat Jose Sa. The attacker only needed one more goal to beat his dad’s record for Premier League goals. The way the Wolves keeper had started, that was not going to be an easy task.
Finally the visitors managed to break the deadlock when Kerkez crossed from the byline. Semenyo slotted home with Sa unable to react quick enough to keep it out. It was no less than Iraola’s side had deserved, having created numerous chances early on.
Gary O’Neil must be looking forward to the end of the season by now, as do his medical staff. It has been an infuriating season on the injury front. Despite this, he knew that the players he had out on the pitch had enough talent to find their way back into this game.
Semenyo almost doubled the visitors’ lead after the break. Once again he looked to try his luck from the edge of the box but this time the deflection took it wide of the post. From the resulting corner, the ball dropped to Senesi but he dragged his shot wide of goal.
The hosts thought they had found an equaliser when Hwang Hee-Chan headed home a cross with Travers unable to do anything about it. Just as the Wolves’ fans had finished celebrating VAR announced it was to be ruled out due to a foul in the build-up.
Looking at the replay there was no denying that Cunha, coming back from injury himself, had struck Kluivert with an arm. It was to prove costly for O’Neil’s side as they were robbed of their equaliser. VAR has not been kind to Wolves this season.
Credit: @premierleague
Kerkez then slid on Doherty in a wide position. The referee decided it warranted a straight red card and the visitors were reduced to ten men. Kilman was to score moments later but once again it was struck off by a VAR review. The defender was offside by the slightest of margins.
Bournemouth held on for the victory and managed to stop the rot on their poor run of form. Andoni Iraola has had a good start to his tenure as The Cherries’ boss, even winning the manager of the month award for March.
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