(Football news) The weekend saw the Cherries triumph 3-2 over a 10-man Nottingham Forest, their third straight victory under incredible circumstances, while the Cottagers fell short of Fulham 2-0 at home.
At the City Ground on Saturday, vilified referee Rob Jones gave Bournemouth the greatest kind of early Christmas present when he controversially dismissed Forest defender Willy Boly for two bookable offenses during Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tricky Trees debut in the first twenty-five minutes.
Even so, the energetic Garibaldi battled heroically with ten men on the field as Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga both broke through the Cherries defense. However, Dominic Solanke had already scored twice when Wood headed home, and the Bournemouth striker demonstrated his aerial prowess with another outstanding header well into added time.
Hat-trick hero Solanke led the wild Cherries celebrations as Bournemouth improved their mid-table standings, shooting up to 12th place in the standings, behind Wolverhampton Wanderers on goal difference after their Christmas Eve victory over Chelsea. Meanwhile, newly appointed Forest boss Santo was left to lament the officiating performance.
With an incredible 16 points from the last 18 available in the premier league, Andoni Iraola’s team is now only 90 minutes away from winning the Premier League four times in a row—a feat Bournemouth has never accomplished in a single season.
While the Cherries did have four straight top-flight victories in 2018, those triumphs were divided between two different seasons, and the hosts have now thoroughly ingrained Iraola’s footballing mentality, as they have scored two goals or more in each of their previous six games.
As Marco Silva’s team failed to convert their 19 shots and 66% of the possession into anything meaningful against Burnley, who unexpectedly departed Craven Cottage with a two-goal victory, Fulham might use a few attacking tips from their hosts on Boxing Day.
Wilson Odobert opened the scoring just two minutes into the second half with a fantastic curling strike into the top corner. Nineteen minutes later, he turned provider for Sander Berge, who finished the job with a well-placed low attempt.
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