An exciting end-to-end game ended 2–0, with two goals from Dominic Solanke. Both keepers made important saves throughout the game with chances coming at both ends, but Bournemouth seemed the stronger side throughout the game; especially in the second half where they scored their two goals. A week of two-nil losses for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle with the extensive injury problem and thin squad at the forefront of their performance. Meanwhile, Bournemouth celebrated their second win of the season with a dominant performance and convincing scoreline.
Bournemouth had two early chances to take the lead with Pope being the first called into action saving a shot from Christie in the first minute, his tame effort from the edge of the box was straight at Pope who collected the ball comfortably. Shortly after Semenyo had a good solo run and found the space to cut in from the right and curled his shot towards the near post but was able to save once again.
The first Newcastle chance came after some good play down the left flank which led to Joelinton finding Longstaff who flashed a long-distance effort at the Bournemouth goal but Neto was equal to it, tipping the ball over the bar.
The last thing Newcastle would have wanted was more injuries but Almiron came off in the 30th minute and was replaced by former Cherries man Matt Ritchie.
Shortly after a through ball from Semenyo found Solanke in behind the Newcastle back line but Lascelles got back quickly to smother the chance with a sliding tackle. Which epitomised his good performances since returning to the squad following Sven Botman’s injury.
The next big chance was another for Newcastle when a short corner was played to Willock who whipped in a deep cross which was met by Lascelles whose powerful header was saved off the line by Neto. The flag did go up afterwards but was a big chance for Newcastle to take the lead.
The teams went into the break at 0-0 but the chances came for both sides, neither seemed to have the cutting edge to go in front. Bournemouth surprisingly had the higher number of chances and did look to be the side who would take the lead.
Early into the second half a back pass to Pope was dropped short and Solanke latched onto the ball but was unable to gain control resulting in a goal kick. It looked to be a nailed-on opener but his first touch let him down just getting away from him.
Kieran Trippier whipped in a corner that put Neto under some trouble and a scramble of bodies that resulted in a clearance that was blocked by Willock who steered it goalwards but Neto saved it again.
Solanke broke the deadlock in the 60th minute, Senesi turned out of trouble and shifted the ball to Christie in the middle who knocked it onto Semenyo. A tidy through ball found Solanke in behind who powered his shot past Pope and into the near right bottom corner.
Solanke found the back of the net again after a Bournemouth corner was headed onto the post and he was the first to react, scoring a cute backheel that landed in the top left corner.
As the game was coming to a close Bournemouth were piling bodies forward every time they won the ball. In the 85th minute, Outarra was released down the left with an overload of Bournemouth shirts queuing up; Lascelles made a very late challenge to stop the winger which saw him to be the first Newcastle player to be booked, only a yellow much to the disappointment of the Home fans.
Solanke missed out on his hattrick after a Bournemouth counter attack finding himself in behind the Newcastle defensive line once again but his shot from a tight angle only went as far as the side netting.
Solanke deservedly got Man of the Match in a game that was all Bournemouth with his two goals being the deciding factor in securing Bournemouth their second win of the season. Bournemouth put on a great display of quality and resilience following their huge defeat at the Etihad last week and will be interesting to see if they can build on the back of this great result.