AFC Bournemouth played at the Vitality Stadium on New Year’s Eve and suffered a 0-2 loss to Crystal Palace with Olise on fire providing both assists for the Eagles.
Bournemouth didn’t offer anywhere near as much as they should’ve in attack with only a few noticeable chances.
Before kick-off, new owners Michael B Jordan and Bill Foley made appearances for the 9,927 fans attending for the Cherries’ first home game under the new ownership.
A minute of applause took place to commemorate the death of Brazilian legend Pele.
Bournemouth started off the game positively inside the first five or so minutes with a corner and some lofted through balls with the intent to get behind the Eagles’ defence.
On the ten-minute mark, Crystal Palace had their first real chance with a powerful shot from outside of the box by Jeffry Schlupp, which ended up just wide of Travers’ goal.
Vieira’s men dominated the Cherries onwards from the tenth minute with Bournemouth struggling to escape their own half.
Palace’s forwards continuously pressed the Bournemouth defence leading to the home fans’ anger as the Cherries refused to play long even with their aerial threat up front with Moore and Solanke.
On the 15-minute mark, Crystal Palace showed their threat with set-pieces as Olise swung in the ball which eventually found Doucoure on the edge of the box whose shot hit Senesi on the hand, but nothing was given.
Bournemouth fans erupted with anger as referee Andre Marriner turned a blind eye to Guaita as he seemed to handle the ball outside of his box.
A moment of scare for the Cherries’ bench as Lloyd Kelly slid in to block a shot from Ayew, after recently recovering from an ankle injury but luckily, he was able to carry on.
On the 19th minute, Bournemouth concede to Jordan Ayew’s header, who was completely unmarked, following an out-swinging corner from Olise.
Bournemouth have now conceded 12 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season, which is the most of any club so far this season.
Olise was dragged down by Jaidon Anthony near the edge of the Bournemouth box which resulted in the winger receiving a yellow card.
Hitting the half-hour mark, Bournemouth fans were furious with the referee after expecting some more yellow cards for the visitors following a succession of fouls.
Kieffer Moore got on the end of a Bournemouth freekick, he tried to find Lerma at the back-post, but Guaita was alert and claimed the ball to his own.
On the 35th-minute mark, the home fans had even more to be irate about after Kieffer Moore was taken down by Doucoure inside the Crystal Palace box, however, VAR did not intervene, and play resumed as usual.
The second Palace goal came through another set-piece with Olise involved again.
The corner was taken by the Frenchman and passed to Eze on the edge of the box who placed the ball into the far corner through the crowd of players in the box.
Billing’s injury earlier was too painful for him to make it to half time which led to him being replaced by the exciting Siriki Dembele.
At the beginning of the second half Bournemouth impressed by displaying more energy and pace to their game, however they failed to create any clear-cut chances early on.
Seven minutes into the second half, Solanke has his first real shot on Guaita, which was saved and parried messily into the centre of the box but eventually cleared.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Bournemouth had been more impressive and showed positive signs of improvement with more balls into the box and more progressive passing inside the Palace half.
Dominic Solanke showed his frustration by dragging down Olise after losing possession of the ball which led to him becoming the third Bournemouth booking of the day.
Onwards from the seventieth minute, substitutions started to roll in for both sides with Rothwell replacing Jordan Zemura, with Jamal Lowe and Ryan Christie replacing Cook and Anthony for the Cherries.
As for Palace, there were no signs of laying back off Bournemouth as they bought on Mateta and Odsonne Edouard replacing both goal scorers Eberechi Eze and Jordan Ayew, adding even more firepower to their line-up.
The last 15 minutes were not so action packed in comparison to other parts of the game, Palace made another substitution by replacing the impressive Olise with Hughs.
88 Minutes in, Zaha played Edouard through as he tried to chip Travers, the Bournemouth keeper saved the ball into the feet of Zaha who’s shot was off target.
AFC Bournemouth fell two goals short of Crystal Palace today on their first game at the Vitality Stadium under their new ownership.
The Cherries’ lack of threat in the final third was the main issue for O’Neil’s men today and it doesn’t get any easier for their next game as they face Manchester United at Old Trafford, who have won both of their first two games since the restart with clean sheets.