Soccer

Premier League round-up: Bournemouth out of relegation zone after beating Fulham

Roy Hodgson’s second stint as Crystal Palace manager began with a 2-1 Premier League win over Leicester City

Bournemouth's English striker Dominic Solanke against Fulham. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty

Sat Apr 1 2023 - 17:15

Bournemouth 2 Fulham 1

Marcus Tavernier and Dominick Solanke were both on target as Bournemouth earned a vital 2-1 win over high-flying Fulham on Saturday to breathe life into the south-coast club’s fight for Premier League survival.

Solanke bundled home in the 79th minute to seal a remarkable comeback that lifted Bournemouth out of the relegation zone and dealt a blow to Fulham’s hopes of playing in Europe next season.

Andreas Pereira gave Fulham the lead in the 16th minute after running on to Harrison Reed’s lay-off, but the visitors failed to build on that early momentum.

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Tavernier, thrown on by manager Gary O’Neil as a halftime substitute after a dire opening 45 minutes for the home side, equalised with a curling left-footed shot from distance in the 50th minute following a corner.

Bournemouth struggled in the opening period, with Solanke only registering their first shot on target in the 42nd minute, and O’Neil rolled the dice at halftime, bringing on Ryan Christie as well as Tavernier.

The changes had an immediate effect, with Bournemouth carving out their equaliser after a spell of sustained pressure before Solanke sealed the three points with his first home Premier League goal of the season.

The victory lifted Bournemouth from second-bottom of the table to 15th place on 27 points, while Fulham stayed ninth.

Crystal Palace 2 Leicester City 1

Roy Hodgson’s second stint as Crystal Palace manager began with a 2-1 Premier League win over Leicester City on Saturday, as the London side registered their first victory in 2023 thanks to a late winner from Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Palace, who had scored the fewest goals in the league this season, looked like a different team from the one that struggled under Patrick Vieira firing in 20 shots against Leicester -- the most any Premier League side has managed in the same amount of time since 2015.

The change in style going forward gave the home fans reason to cheer but Palace could not find a way through a dogged Leicester defence, while Ivorian winger and Palace’s top scorer this season Wilfried Zaha was forced to limp off with a groin injury.

It was Leicester who struck first through Ricardo Pereira, who received the ball at the edge of the box before blasting a shot into the top corner past the despairing dive of Vicente Guaita.

Palace levelled from a free kick three minutes later when Eberechi Eze cleared the wall, saw his shot come off the crossbar and go in off goalkeeper Daniel Iversen for an own goal.

In added time in the second half, Jordan Ayew made a solo run into Leicester’s half and fed Mateta with a through-ball as the French striker finished with aplomb to lift the 12th-placed team up to 30 points. Leicester meanwhile dropped to 18th in the table.

Nottingham Forest 1 Wolves 1

Daniel Podence’s late equaliser rescued Wolves a crucial point in an ill-tempered 1-1 draw at relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.

Half-time substitute Podence hauled Wolves level in the 83rd minute after Brennan Johnson had given Forest a 1-0 interval lead.

A point each could prove crucial to both sides during the run-in, but Forest’s winless league run was extended to six matches, while Wolves have won only one of their last seven.

The tension proved too much for Forest assistant Alan Tate and Wolves counterpart Pablo Sanz, who were both sent off after a touchline melee at the start of the second half.

Johnson’s early curling effort was tipped over for a corner by Jose Sa and at the other end Adama Traore’s fierce low drive was blocked by Forest defender Harry Toffolo.

Forest were furious when referee Chris Kavanagh waved away their penalty appeals after Emmanuel Dennis’ cross struck Nelson Semedo on the hand.

Backed by a vociferous home support, Forest built up a head of steam and Wolves absorbed the pressure before having their best spell of the first half.

Matheus Cunha went close to giving the visitors the lead when he headed Matheus Nunes’ excellent ball into the box against the crossbar.

But Forest stepped it up again and Johnson gave them a 38th-minute lead with a brilliant angled finish after running on to Danilo’s ball over the top.

Tempers flared when Johnson was booked by Kavanagh for diving in the box when he went down under Semedo’s challenge.

Visiting skipper Ruben Neves was then shown a yellow card – his 10th of the season – for his rash challenge on Dennis, ruling him out of his side’s next two matches.

Tempers boiled over again at the start of the second half, this time on both benches.

Referee Kavanagh was unmoved after Traore went tumbling under Felipe’s challenge and that sparked a melee which resulted in both Tate and Sanz being sent off.

It would appear ill-feeling between both camps is still lingering from the Carabao Cup tie between the two sides in January, which Forest won on penalties.

Wolves were fined £45,000 and Forest £40,000 for failing to control their players after ugly scenes at the end of the quarter-final.

With precious league points at stake in this encounter, Wolves continued to probe for an opening in search of an equaliser, but Forest were a major threat on the break.

Johnson fired a rebound wide after Dennis had forced Sa to save, but Podence rescued Wolves with seven minutes left.

Pedro Neto’s shot was blocked and, when the ball fell to Podence, the little forward cut inside and slammed home a right-footed finish in front of Wolves’ travelling fans.

The drama was not over as VAR checked footage in the closing stages to check whether Podence had spat at Johnson before ruling the incident was not worthy of a red card.

Brighton and Hove Albion 3 Brentford 3

Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Alexis MacAllister fired home a 90th-minute penalty to snatch a 3-3 draw for his side against Brentford in a thrilling climax to their Premier League clash on Saturday.

Brighton’s afternoon got off to a poor start when Pontus Jansson gave the visitors the lead in the 10th minute, meeting a brilliant inswinging cross form Mikkel Damsgaard with a powerful header that flew past Jason Steele.

Kaoru Mitoma levelled 11 minutes later, latching on to a long ball from Steele and deftly lobbing it over David Raya for his seventh goal in his last 13 games, but their joy was short-lived as Ivan Toney put The Bees back in front a minute later.

Again, the home side struck back quickly as Danny Welbeck headed home a Solly March cross at the back post to make it 2-2 in the 28th minute, but they were behind again four minutes into the second half as Ethan Pinnock volleyed home Bryan Mbeumo’s free kick.

Brighton then wasted chance after chance and looked to be heading for defeat until Aaron Hickey was found to have handled the ball after a lengthy VAR review, and Argentina international MacAllister smashed the resulting spot kick into the net.

The draw sees Brighton rise to sixth in the table on 43 points, ahead of Brentford on goal difference and one point ahead of Liverpool, who lost 4-1 to Manchester City in the early kickoff.

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