Fulham edged out of European qualifying spots by Bournemouth’s early goal
- By Kaz Mochlinski
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
Bournemouth (1) 1 v Fulham (0) 0
Semenyo 1
By Kaz Mochlinski at the Vitality Stadium
Premier League
Matchweek 32
Fulham’s hopes of getting into the European qualifying places this season suffered a significant setback on the South Coast with a hugely frustrating 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
The Cottagers conceded the only goal of the match after just 53 seconds, with an awful defensive error letting in Antoine Semenyo to give the home side an early advantage which they never relinquished.
Bournemouth’s victory enabled them to overtake Fulham and climb up into eighth place in the Premier League table with six games left to play. The two teams are level on points now but separated by goal difference.
The result extended to eight matches Fulham’s recent run of alternating wins and losses in the league - which, if it continues, may be bad news for Chelsea as the next visitors to Craven Cottage on Easter Sunday.
For Bournemouth there was immense relief at finally ending their six-game sequence without a Premier League win, going back two months to mid-February and a 3-1 success at Southampton.
It had dropped the Cherries down from fifth position and possible Champions League qualification to tenth, as a horrendous injury list and exhaustion among their remaining players took an inevitable toll.
Their home form has been even worse, with four consecutive defeats in the Premier League since overwhelming Nottingham Forest 5-0 back in January. That was also the last time Semenyo scored a league goal.
After eight matches and more than 11 weeks of miserable struggling, the Bournemouth winger got the opportunity to put that right immediately at the outset against Fulham, with the first attack of the contest and the first shot on goal.
Alex Scott cut through the midfield, but the ex-Bristol City star would not have been able to slide the ball on to Bournemouth’s other former Robins player without Antonee Robinson stumbling over an attempted interception.
The Fulham captain instead disastrously diverted Scott’s pass straight to Semenyo, who dribbled to the edge of the penalty area before cutting inside onto his left foot for a sweet strike beyond Bernd Leno.
Only seven times previously in all the 34 seasons of the Premier League has the only goal of the game been scored in the first minute. Throughout the remaining 89 minutes of this one it never seemed likely to be added to that list.
Both sides continued to create good chances, pushing plenty of players forward at every opportunity and making mostly positive, attacking substitutions, entirely in keeping with the two coaches’ bold footballing philosophies.
Fulham will regret having carved out multiple openings and then squandered them, with Rodrigo Muniz, Ryan Sessegnon, and Joachim Andersen in particular guilty of not converting from promising positions in the first half.
Midway through the second period Alex Iwobi weaved down the inside-left channel for a well-struck shot, which was only kept out by a fine flying save from Kepa Arrizabalaga.
But Bournemouth actually had the better chances to increase their lead. Just a quarter of an hour into the encounter, Evanilson hit the crossbar from close-range when even he could not quite believe that he had not scored.
Milos Kerkez had got down the left wing for a tantalising left-footed cross to the far post, which Scott headed back across the goal with Evanilson running in to volley the ball, but Bournemouth’s record signing was unable to keep it down.
Another attack on the left, early in the second half, saw Dango Ouattara play in Tyler Adams, finding space at the near post for a first-time effort which Leno did well to stop with his legs.
There were also two VAR checks, one in each half, both confirming referee Michael Oliver’s views - that Marcos Senesi’s tackle on Andersen was not a red card offence, and Leno got to the ball to avoid a penalty when bringing down Evanilson.
Right to the final whistle, as the predicted rain arrived, it continued to be ceaselessly entertaining, but almost remarkably remained 1-0, to a large extent due to alert goalkeeping and committed defending.
Bournemouth’s first clean sheet in 10 games in all competitions was rewarded with their highly-coveted central defensive prospect Dean Huijsen fittingly being given the Player of the Match award - on his 20th birthday.
The three points take Bournemouth to 48 this season, equalling the club’s previous Premier League points record. Their goal difference of 12 separates them from Fulham’s four and Brighton & Hove Albion’s two.
An eighth place finish in the league is potentially going to be sufficient for European football next season, but the Cherries are just as aware as the Londoners that the competition for those spots is going to be fierce in the coming weeks.
On this Monday night, it felt like a one-goal win may have made a massive momentum change, deflatingly denting Fulham’s euphoria from beating the Premier League leaders Liverpool last time out.
The two head coaches, Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva, were both on the day of the match reported to be on Spurs’ shortlist of three Premier League bosses to perhaps replace Ange Postecoglou in the summer.
The third is said to be Oliver Glasner, the manager of Bournemouth’s next opponents over the Easter weekend, Crystal Palace. Again on the evidence of Iraola and Silva’s latest meeting, they could hardly be doing better with their current clubs.
And either one would surely be foolish to leave their present positions, with both Bournemouth and Fulham still on the verge of turning their very promising seasons so far into something absolutely unforgettable.
Bournemouth: (4-2-3-1) Arrizabalaga - Smith, Huijsen, Senesi (Zabarnyi 46), Kerkez - Adams, Cook - Semenyo (Soler 89), Scott (Tavernier 64), Ouattara - Evanilson
Fulham: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson - Berge (Cairney 58), Lukić (Willian 85) - Sessegnon (Traoré 58), Pereira (Smith Rowe 69), Iwobi - Rodrigo Muniz (Raúl Jiménez 58)
Attendance: 11,195
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