For a while it looked as if Marco Silva might deliver Fulham a rare win at Bournemouth without a recognised centre forward. Ryan Sessegnon’s measured finish put the Whites within sight of a precious three points, but Andoni Iraola’s Cherries staged a fabulous fightback to move up to second in the Premier League table. Antoine Semenyo got the comeback started when he squeezed a shot behind Bernd Leno’s legs having kept a lost cause alive on the byline before Justin Kluivert curled a stunning 25 yard strike into the top corner to put the home side in front. With Fulham pushing for a leveller in the final minute of added time, Semenyo added a second to put the Londoners out of their misery.
Fulham had to battle through adversity from the outset. Silva relied on Josh King and Harry Wilson to be the focal point of a diminished attack in the absence of the injured Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz, with Swedish teenager Jonah Kusi-Asare once again an unused substitute. They began on the back foot, doing their best to weather a high-octane Bournemouth start. The home side forced a succession of corners with Tyler Adams trying his luck from distance – and the visitors were forced into another reorganisation when Sasa Lukic succumbed to a thigh strain.
The Serbian’s replacement was Tom Cairney, whose classy touches and experience, allowed Silva’s side to get a foothold in the contest. Cairney had Fulham’s first effort at goal and settled his side into a pattern of patient possession that gave King and Wilson more space in which to operate. The always willing Alex Iwobi took aim from just inside the box at the end of a promising move and, by half time, it was very much an even stalemate with Leno smothering an effort from the lively Semenyo.
Calvin Bassey got his body in the way of an Alex Scott strike after Evanilson, who had spent plenty of time on the floor in the first half, had flicked a ball cleverly on to the former Bristol City midfielder. The Brazilian took centre stage after that – finding the side netting with a venomous half-volley and then lashing an effort into the arms of Leno after bright play from Marcus Tavernier. The home fans roared for a penalty when he went down under a challenge from Issa Diop, but a lengthy VAR check ruled Issa Diop’s contact on the Cherries striker was not deliberate.
Iraola turned to his substitutes bench, sending on Alex Jimenez and Kluivert as the clocked ticked past the hour mark, but it was Fulham’s replacements who looked to have turned the game in the direction of the visitors. Sessegnon capped another eye-catching display from left wing back with a lovely finish to a following move that saw him surge onto a lovely give and go with Samuel Chukwueze to the delight of the travelling fans.
But Fulham’s joy proved fleeting as they threw away a winning position for the eighth time in the last two seasons. Iraola was rewarded for a pair of enterprising changes as Ben Gannon-Doak and Ryan Christie replaced centre back Marcos Senesi and holding midfielder Adams. Bournemouth were twelve minutes from defeat when Semenyo, arguably one of the Premier League’s players of the season so far, did brilliantly to keep a ball in by the byline, slalomed his way into the penalty area and rolled a remarkable finish through the legs of Leno and in at the far post.
The goal galvanised the Cherries – and Fulham were now hanging on for dear life. Kluivert, who could have been lining up for the Londoners but for a Home Office decision not to grant him a work permit to complete a loan move to Craven Cottage in 2022, latched onto Semenyo’s pass, crossed the halfway line and tricked his way past Cairney before finding the top corner with a sensational strike from 25 yards.
Semenyo rolled in a third having run seventy yards to convert Gannon-Doak’s unselfish cross after the Cherries had countered from Kevin’s corner to end any hope of a Fulham comeback. A scowling Silva will now have the international break to regroup after watching Fulham fail to profit from another winning position.
AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Hill (Jimenez 61), Truffert, Senesi (Gannon-Doak 78), Diakite; Adams (Christie 78), Scott; Brooks (Milosavlijevic 85), Semenyo, Tavernier (Kluivert 61); Evanilson. Subs (not used): Dennis, Adli, Cook, Kroupi.
GOALS: Semenyo (78, 90+6), Kluivert (84).
FULHAM (3-4-2-1): Leno; Diop (Smith Rowe 86), Bassey, Andersen; Castagne, R. Sessegnon, Lukic (Cairney 14), Berge; Iwobi (Traore 86), Wilson (Chukwueze 67); King (Kevin 67). Subs (not used): Lecomte, Cuenca, A. Robinson, Kusi-Asare.
BOOKED: Diop.
GOAL: R. Sessegnon (70).
REFEREE: Simon Hooper (Swindon).
ATTENDANCE: 11,165
