Antoine Semenyo’s first-minute goal proved decisive as AFC Bournemouth boosted their European hopes with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at the Vitality Stadium.
Semenyo’s eighth Premier League goal of the season was enough to snap a run of six top-flight matches without a win for the Cherries.
Bournemouth – who pegged Fulham back to a 2-2 draw late on in the reverse fixture in December – had to hold onto their lead for all but the opening 53 seconds of Monday’s encounter.
Evanilson squandered a chance to make matters more comfortable for Bournemouth when he hit the crossbar from close range, but Fulham could not make their hosts pay for that profligacy.
The victory takes Bournemouth up into eighth, a place above Fulham and right back in the mix for European qualification, while the Cottagers’ slim hopes of pushing for a UEFA Champions League place have likely been extinguished.
Bournemouth have now matched their record Premier League points tally of 48, which they set last season.
How the match unfolded
The Cherries hit the front as Semenyo pounced on Antonee Robinson’s loose touch and dispatched expertly beyond Bernd Leno.
Semenyo is the scorer of Bournemouth’s third-earliest goal in the Premier League after Philip Billing against Arsenal in March 2023 (nine seconds) and Matt Ritchie against Tottenham Hotspur in October 2015 (49 seconds).
Bournemouth should have doubled their lead in the 17th minute. Alex Scott neatly cushioned Milos Kerkez’s deep ball across the six-yard box, but Evanilson could only rattle the woodwork.
The hosts have hit the woodwork more times than any other Premier League side this season (21), with Evanilson the 10th different player to do so for Bournemouth.
Fulham looked to respond before half-time with Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon both heading straight at Kepa Arrizabalaga, though Leno had to be alert to Scott’s low drive at the other end.
Leno came to the visitors’ rescue again 10 minutes into the second half, keeping out Adams’ volley from a Dango Ouattara cross, while Kepa pushed away an Alex Iwobi attempt.
However, the Bournemouth goalkeeper was not really tested otherwise and, despite Evanilson seeing a penalty appeal waved away late on, Andoni Iraola’s team held firm to bring a welcome end to their winless streak.
Bournemouth back on track
Without a win after 90 minutes in their last eight matches across all competitions, Bournemouth were also staring down the barrel of suffering five straight Premier League home defeats for the first time in their history.
However, if that was playing on their minds, they certainly did not show it, with Semenyo getting them off to the perfect start.
Evanilson cut a frustrated figure after he failed to add to their lead, but Fulham really never came all that close to truly testing Kepa, who was well protected by the excellent Dean Huijsen – the Bournemouth centre-back turning in a fine display on his 20th birthday.
Having conceded two goals in each of their last five league outings, Bournemouth needed this clean sheet.
Beating a fellow European contender will provide a timely boost for Iraola, whose team now take on Crystal Palace before going up against Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City before rounding out their campaign against Leicester City.
Fulham draw rare away blank
Fulham were fresh from stunning Premier League leaders Liverpool in their last outing, but the inconsistency that has seen Marco Silva’s side fail to put together back-to-back league victories since they overcame Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest back in February.
Across their last eight league matches, Fulham have now alternated between defeats and wins, and the momentum they had from that brilliant victory over Liverpool swiftly dissipated with Semenyo’s early strike.
That being said, Silva’s team came into this one having scored in all 14 of their away matches in the league this season, so they would not have been panicking.
However, they just could not click into gear in attack. Iwobi failed to find his usual spark, while Muniz struggled to get into the game.
Silva shuffled his pack with a triple change just before the hour-mark, and the visitors subsequently increased the pressure in their search for an equaliser. However, they were generally restricted to long-range, hopeful efforts.
With such a congested race for the European places, Fulham will need to string together a run of positive results if they are to see off their rivals.
Match reports
Bournemouth report | Fulham report
What the managers said
Andoni Iraola: “Very, very pleased with the performance. I think we needed this performance, defending our own box well, the clearances, the blocks, the basics, the set plays.
“To finish with a clean sheet is so valuable because normally when we create chances we score goals, defensively is where we have lacked something in recent games and today we were very good.”
Marco Silva: “In the first minute we conceded a really sloppy goal but we had 94 minutes more to play and change it. We knew in the first minutes it was important to take the right decisions, simple decisions. The first 25 minutes showed we were not at the level.
“The reaction after that was good and we had chances to equalise. The second half we controlled the game and pushed them back. Kepa took some time to go down at least three times, all that stuff, to break our momentum. We threw everything away with our first 25 minutes.”
Match officials
Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, James Mainwaring. Fourth official: Tim Robinson. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies.
