At Bournemouth, where Fulham had lost on their last three visits, Marco Silva’s team were tweaking the noses of Andoni Iraola. They had suffered in the wind and rain only to take the lead through Ryan Sessegnon’s well-crafted goal. Silva’s substitutions had turned the game in Fulham’s favour, Samuel Chukwueze combining with Sessegnon almost as soon as he arrived into a pitched battle of a contest.
Step forward Antoine Semenyo, one of the Premier League’s players of the season so far. His slaloming run down the byline and drop of the shoulder confounded Bernd Leno to score from the narrowest of angles. Next, the Ghanaian sent Justin Kluivert away to smash in a gorgeous long-range strike. Semenyo’s injury-time second, from a trademark warp-speed counter, supplied by another sub in Ben Gannon-Doak, completed a sweet home win. Bournemouth climbed to second in the table, only Liverpool above them. Just when Fulham were set for fourth time lucky they were denied by Iraola’s expert in-game management, greater depth of resources and a match-winner in Semenyo.
“He is incredible,” said Kluivert, no slouch himself, of Semenyo. “He shows it every game now. He is just world class.”
Iraola said: “He has been improving every season, every season he has got better. I make him not look too much at the numbers. If we are playing well collectively, the numbers will arrive.”
For a sodden Silva, clad all evening in a light sweater that would have needed to be wrung out because of the inclement conditions, his kingdom for a striker. An injury crisis among his centre-forwards meant Josh King, Fulham’s shining star this season, was pushed into an unfamiliar, withdrawn striker/false 9 role unsuited to the teenager’s skill set at this early stage. “This moment of the season is very difficult for us,” Silva said.
Despite the elite’s asset-stripping of last season’s team, Iraola’s squad is now more robust. His changes when chasing the game provided testament. “We have lost some important players but we have connected well since the start of the season,” Semenyo said. “It has been a great start and a great environment to be part of.”
Second-half substitutes Ryan Christie, Kluivert and Alejandro Jiménez each arrived to play a part in Bournemouth’s decisive, deadly acceleration away from Fulham. The Basque manager’s brand of high-pressing football will cause wear and tear, and where last winter Bournemouth could barely field a team, he currently has the luxury of rotation and tactical switches. The results so far are almost as glowing as his reputation. “When you are losing, you have to try to change the game,” said Iraola.
At Bournemouth last season a clerical error meant Fulham subbed the wrong player – Sessegnon rather than Sasa Lukic. Silva did not contain his rage when the latter suffered an early muscle injury. His team’s inability to hold the ball in the first half further darkened his mood. “We had moments to punish them and missed the last pass,” said Silva.
Bournemouth were equally blunted, as can happen with a team whose best football comes when Iraola’s players build to crescendos. There can be flat spots. Amid night air filled with drizzle courtesy of Storm Amy, there was frustration. Evanilson, Bournemouth’s striker, struggled for supply. A half of three shots on target, Alex Iwobi scuffing the last, ground to a soggy, merciful halt. “Not a lot was happening,” shrugged Iraola.
That 45 minutes represented the lowest combined xG of any first half thus far this Premier League season. Things could only get better? Certainly. When Evanilson’s flying volley hit the side-netting, he inadvertently triggered the Vitality video screens into errant goal celebrations. Real excitement would come soon enough.
Jiménez and Kluivert arrived on 60 minutes, Iraola asking the Milan loanee to overlap from right-back, Kluivert to get closer to Evanilson than Marcus Tavernier, who had departed. Silva’s fresh arrivals were the summer additions Kevin and Chukwueze.
Did we need to talk about Kevin? It was Chukwueze’s smart exchange with Sessegnon that broke the deadlock. “The 1-0 was a great collective goal from us and then after two individual moments they decide the game,” said Silva.
Iraola’s response was to gamble again, take off defensive-minded players in Marcos Senesi and Tyler Adams, and replace them with Gannon-Doak and Christie. “You have to take a risk, there is no other option,” he said. That fresh injection of the talent his squad continue to boast set the stage for Semenyo to further Bournemouth’s rise.
