22 February 2025
Bournemouth 0 Wolves 1
In-form Bournemouth welcomed Wolves to the Vitality Stadium. For The Cherries’ fans, this season seemed something of an acid trip. If you had told them before a ball had been kicked in the campaign, that with twelve games remaining, all the talk in the stands before kick-off would be about whether they could secure a Champions League spot they would have thought there was an asylum somewhere looking for you.
Those are the levels Andoni Iraola has taken this side to this season. They fear nobody nowadays and are confident of beating big teams home or away, venue means little to The Cherries with confidence sky-high. Their manager is even being linked to the Real Madrid job, should Carlo Ancelotti step down at the end of the season. It must all seem like some fever-induced dream to their fans.
While many of the big teams in the league are constantly moaning about their injury crisis’, Bournemouth having seen both of their strikers suffer season-ending injuries in the space of a week, just take it all in their stride. Asking wingers to play as strikers, they bang in hat-tricks like it is the easiest thing in the world.
Wolves are a strange team this season. Deep in the mire of a relegation battle, one week they will get played off the park by some of the weaker teams in the division. Then they rock up at Anfield and have the league leaders on the ropes, hanging on for dear life. It must be like a game of Russian roulette every week being a season ticket holder at Molineux.
They started this game like they had been hypnotised into believing that it was in fact them who was eight points clear at the top of the table. Semedo cuts inside from the wing and fired off a left-footed shot that smashed against the post. Bellegarde was quickest to react but Kepa made an impressive reaction save to deny him at the near post.
The visitors were piling on the pressure and Bournemouth were struggling to keep them out. Ait Nouri saw his shot blocked but it broke to Cunha on the edge of the box. The Brazilian shifted it onto his left foot before trying to bend one in the far corner, replicating his sublime goal at Anfield the week before. Kepa was alert to the danger and got down well to beat it away.
It was one-way traffic on the south coast for the majority of the first-half. Bournemouth finally had their first effort at goal following an error from Doherty. He was bailed out by Jose Sa who came flying off his line to close down Kluivert and make a brilliant block to deny The Cherries’ dangerman. Finally the home faithful had something to get excited about.
Football can be a cruel mistress at times. She can take you to levels of elation that seem like an out of body experience. Then, in an instant, she can bring you crashing down to earth and ruin your whole weekend. Zabarnyi slid into a challenge and caught the Wolves’ player. The referee immediately brandished a yellow card for the rash challenge.
VAR reviewed the incident and told the referee that he needed to go to the monitor. Now, this is one of the many problems with the process. There are multiple angles of the challenge but as the official arrives at the monitor, he is greeted by a still frame that ratifies Stockley Park’s viewpoint. As a result, he immediately upgraded his punishment to red card and gave The Cherries’ defender his marching orders.
Towards the end of the half, Semedo clipped a ball into the danger area. As a Bournemouth defender looked to head clear, he completely missed it. Cunha seemed surprised to find the ball at his feet, with only the keeper to beat. Wolves’ talisman took it all in his stride as he slotted past Kepa to give the visitors a well-deserved lead.
After the interval, the hosts faced an uphill struggle. A goal down, reduced to ten men, they were looking at back-to-back home defeats for the first time since October 2023. However, you would still not bet against The Cherries to turn this around, Iraola has transformed this team. Fantasy league managers up and down the country were constantly refreshing the score to see if their Bournemouth selections would make or break their game week.
Munetsi had the best chance of the game to score. Eight yards out, in the middle of the goal unmarked, he only had Kepa to beat. How on earth he put it wide of the target is a question only the most skilled physicists could answer. He held his head in his hands, hoping a sinkhole would appear and swallow him up at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth looked a shadow of the team we have watched all season. It was like we had time travelled to three years ago. Wolves were in complete control of the game and Jose Sa had nothing to do whatsoever. It was a crucial three points for Pereira’s side as they look to secure their Premier League status for next season. It was one to forget for Iraola.
Did you enjoy this article? Please share to your social media. With one click you can help spread the word and make Solid at the Back the one-stop shop for all Premier League fans.