Bournemouth put an end to a six-game victory league with a 1-0 home victory against Fulham while Antoine Semenyo’s goal inside the first minute rekindled their hope for European qualification.
Semenyo capitalized on Antonee Robinson’s error to bend a low finish in the lower corner after only 53 seconds at the Vitality stadium.
This turned out to be the difference between the two European parts which chasing European while Bournemouth exceeded Fulham in the eighth of the difference in goals, the first eight are probably sufficient to qualify for Europe unless Crystal Palace wins the FA Cup.
After the victory, Semenyo, winner of the match, revealed that the boss of the Cherries Andoni Iraola had presented the match as “Make-Or-Break” for their season.
The 25 -year -old said Sky Sports: “The victory was definitely vital for us. The manager said all week that it is a brand game for us.
“We entered the match by wanting to give everything and you could see at the end by the celebrations that it meant a lot. It was difficult, but it is good to be back on the board.”
The start of the lightning of Bournemouth almost rewarded them with two goals while Evanilson struck the bar at the point of 17th minute. It was the 21st time that the side of the South Coast hit the woodwork in the Premier League this season, more than any other team.
But Fulham missed two glorious chances of equalizing before half-time. First of all, Rodrigo Muniz led to a wide shot in the 31st minute after a defensive mixture between the central defenders of Bournemouth, Dean Huijsen and Marcos Senesi, who started a league match together for the first time.
Barely six minutes later, the unmarked Ryan Sessegnon headed directly to the goalkeeper of Bournemouth Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Marco Silva’s team continued to put pressure on an equalizer in the second half, and the frustrations of the Fulham head coach increased after the confusion around a triple substitution which saw Sessegnon mistakenly removed.
Silva confirmed Sky Sports After the match, he wanted to remove the back left Robinson, blaming a “lack of communication” between the fourth official and his staff for Sessegnon who is wrong for Adama Traore.
The Cherries then resisted Fulham’s pressure to keep a first victory in nine games in all competitions, which catapult them in European claims and level their highest level with 48 points.
Iraola: victory comes at a “perfect moment”
Bournemouth chief Andoni Iraola talk to Sky Sports::
“Very satisfied with the performance. I think we needed this performance, to defend our own box, the clearances, the blocks, the bases, the whole.
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Semenyo gives Bournemouth ahead
“Finishing with a white sheet is so precious because normally offensively when we create chances, we score goals, defensively where we missed something in recent games, and today we were very defensively.
“This victory arrives in the ideal moment. Next week, we have another of these games against Crystal Palace, like Fulham, they play very well, so get well, get some of the players we have and arrive at a good place.
“Each result will be essential. The classification has been very close in recent months.
“I don’t think we have an easy schedule, so we have to be very good.”
Silva: the first 25 minutes cost us
Fulham head coach Marco Silva talk to Sky Sports::
“At the first minute, we conceded a really sloppy goal, but we had 95 more minutes to play and change things.
“We knew in the first minutes that it was important to make simple and good decisions, simple decisions. The first 25 minutes have shown that we were not at the level. You have to reach the same intensity as the other side.
“The reaction after that was good and we were likely to equalize. The second half, we checked the game and we pushed them back. Kepa took the time to descend at least three times, all that, to break our momentum.
“We threw everything with our first 25 minutes.”
