23 November 2024
Bournemouth 1 Brighton 2
It was a south coast derby at the Vitality Stadium as Brighton arrived to take on The Cherries. The Seagulls were enjoying life under Fabian Hurzeler and looking to put their name in the hat for European football once again. That said, Bournemouth have shown their ability to beat any team at home this season, with wins against both Arsenal and Man City.
The storm lashing Britain this weekend made for very difficult football conditions. Not that it should bother either of these teams, as they both like to get the ball down and pass it around. The hosts had the first sight of goal when Semenyo let rip from outside the box. His effort skidded along the wet surface and narrowly missed the goal, with Verbruggen at full-stretch.
These two teams shared one thing in common this season, they had both beaten Man City. Rutter tried a shot from distance but Kepa got down to make the save. As ever, the Spaniard palmed the ball back into the danger area where Pedro was there to tap home for a simple goal. Whatever happened to coaches teaching keepers to make sure their save goes wide of the goal.
It had been an open start to the game but you always felt the first goal was going to be important. Both sides had looked to use the wet surface to their advantage by testing the opposing keepers with long-range efforts. It was The Seagulls who were to benefit largely thanks to the questionable goalkeeping of the Chelsea loanee.
Bournemouth had good form at the Vitality Stadium against their south coast neighbours and immediately tried to find a way back into the game. Evanilson tried his luck from a tight angle but Verbruggen was equal to it. Moments later Kerkez got down the flank and picked out Kluivert in the box, but the Dutch attacker sent his effort narrowly wide of the goal.
Semenyo then continued to pull the strings in the middle and fed the ball into the path of Kluivert. As the keeper rushed out to close him down, he squared it to Evanilson to tap home for what seemed like a simple equaliser. That was until the VAR review however. As the replay showed, the Brazilian was in an offside position when he received the ball.
These are the fine margins that can cost you so dearly in the top-flight. The Cherries had so many numbers forward on the attack, with very little defenders to stop them. The fact that Evanilson had timed his run so poorly was nothing short of shocking. Since conceding the opening goal, Iraola’s side had dominated the game.
Just before the interval, Baleba was shown a yellow card for a rash challenge on Evanilson. There were no complaints from the midfielder as the referee brandished his punishment. The Seagulls headed into the interval with a slender lead, now with a chance to regroup and build on the foundation they had given themselves against their rivals.
Rutter has really taken to life at Brighton. As he received the ball in the middle of the park, he assessed his options, before sliding a perfectly-weighted pass into the path of Mitoma for him to run onto. He needed no touch to control it and steered his shot past Kepa and into the far corner. Hurzeler’s side were looking clinical in front of goal.
Semenyo is showing his true potential this season. He danced past the Brighton defenders before cutting the ball back from the byline to Evanilson. The Brazilian opened his body up and tried to side foot his effort into the far corner. He got it all wrong and the shot went harmlessly wide of the goal. While he smiled after seeing his effort go wide, the Bournemouth fans did not share his glee.
As The Cherries looked to break with pace, Baleba went into a challenge with Kerkez. The referee awarded a free kick and quickly produced a second yellow card to give the Brighton midfielder his marching orders. As the replay showed, there was nowhere near enough intent to warrant the actions. Not every foul should result in a booking.
Down to ten men, The Seagulls had to absorb the pressure from the hosts. Semenyo got into a dangerous position in the box and drilled a shot towards goal but Verbruggen made a good block to deny him. It was not the most textbook save but at this stage of the game, keeping it out by any means was all that counted.
Evanilson had another chance to score when he headed a cross towards goal but it was always too close to the keeper. He did fumble the effort in the wet conditions but gathered the ball at the second attempt. It pretty much summed up the Brazilian’s afternoon. Obviously these wintery conditions did not bring out the best in him.
Deep into added time The Cherries finally struck. Unal laid the ball off to Brooks, who toe-poked his effort past Verbruggen into the top corner. The Vitality Stadium erupted but everyone was wondering whether this was too little, too late. Despite this, Iraola’s side kept probing for an equaliser with everyone unsure how much time was remaining.
Right at the death, Bournemouth forced a corner. This was the cue for Kepa to come forward. As the set-piece was half-cleared, it dropped to Semenyo on the volley on the edge of the box. His shot thundered against the crossbar and went over with the keeper beaten. The full-time whistle went immediately afterwards and The Seagulls had picked up another impressive victory.
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