sport news Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton: Cherries move into the top half of the Premier League ... trends now
Another confident performance from Andoni Iraola’s side not only extended their six-game unbeaten home run, but called time on Brighton’s upper hand in the South Coast derby, denying Roberto De Zerbi’s players a fourth consecutive victory on Sunday afternoon.
The travellers were wearied ones, hopes of European competition all but entirely slipped away and rooted to 12th place after going six games without a win. Just over three days on from a 4-0 humbling at Amex by the Manchester City machine, the much-changed side looked like a shadow of their former selves as the season draws to a close.
Only Joao Pedro, Pascal Gross, Valentin Barco, and Lewis Dunk kept their places after Thursday’s defeat left their injury-ravaged side even shorter, with Jan Paul van Hecke the latest absentee.
Unsurprisingly, the changes told. De Zerbi’s side began brightly, pushing forward, but lacked a cohesion which blunted early tests of Mark Travers in goal. Bournemouth, by contrast, seemed raring to go for the contest, unruffled by the visitors’ early attempts to catch them off-guard.
The hosts were the first to truly threaten just past the 10 minute-mark, when a crafty flick-on on from Antoine Semenyo kept the ball in play on the right and unleashed Premier League debutant Enes Unal, who sent a crisp cross towards a looming Dominic Solanke.
Goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unal and Justin Kluivert earned Bournemouth a 3-0 win over Brighton at the Vitality Stadium
Bournemouth defender Senesi got his side ahead in the first-half with a header from close-range
Senesi's fourth goal of the Premier League campaign gave Bournemouth the best possible star
The forward might have had his 19th Premier League goal but for a hasty defence from Lewis Dunk, who caught the shot with his body as he fell. Shouts for a VAR intervention were hastily waved away by a no-nonsense Paul Tierney.
Instead, Bournemouth had to make to do with a corner, but they wouldn’t have just wait long for their opener. Claiming a second, Lewis Cook sent in a flyer straight to the head of Brighton’s Irish youngster Mark O’Mahony. But rather than knocking it to safety, his intervention only served to tee up a leaping Marcos Senesi, who wasted no time burying the ball past as stunned Bart Verbruggen.
