Antoine Semenyo at the double as Bournemouth finish with win over Leicester
Bournemouth arrested their end-of-season slump to beat Leicester 2-0 on the final day and ensure a top-half finish.
Antoine Semenyo struck twice to clinch victory on what was otherwise a fairly forgettable afternoon.
Advertisement
This is Bournemouth's best-ever Premier League season, but somehow it has not felt like it lately. As recently as the end of February, they were fifth in the league, eyes firmly fixed on the Champions League places.
But just two wins from 12 games before the visit of relegated Leicester extinguished any hope of a first-ever European campaign for the Cherries next season.
Since being relegated at the end of April, Leicester's form has been good, with the Foxes having taken seven of the last nine points available to them.
Here they were bright and ought to have gone ahead when Oliver Skipp wasted a good sight of goal. Soon afterwards, Bournemouth's Evanilson dragged a shot just beyond the far post in the game's first chances.
Advertisement
Bournemouth gained momentum and David Brooks soon saw his volley saved by Jakub Stolarczyk after Tyler Adams' cross had reached him at the far post.
As expected, the intensity was hardly fierce at the Vitality Stadium for a final-day fixture with nothing riding on it. Skipp did have the ball in the net for Leicester after half an hour, but Kasey McAteer was offside in the build-up.
Five minutes before half-time, Conor Coady brought down Evanilson right on the edge of the area as he threatened to race clear. From the resulting free-kick, Stolarczyk saved superbly low to his left to keep the scores level.
Bournemouth maintained their pressure after the break and were denied by another superb save from Stolarczyk and he pushed Tavernier's curling shot past the post.
Advertisement
Leicester's supporters were spending the afternoon voicing their anger at the club's board, in particular director of football Jon Rudkin.
It was then Bournemouth's turn to see a goal ruled out, with the ball having gone out of play on the way to Daniel Jebbison who volleyed in at the far post.
Finally the deadlock was broken and it came following a Bournemouth corner. Justin Kluivert dinked the ball to the far post where Illya Zabarnyi towered a header back into the six-yard box with Semenyo waiting to stab it home.
There was a standing ovation for Real Madrid-bound Dean Huijsen who came off the bench for the final 13 minutes to say farewell to the Bournemouth supporters.
Advertisement
Huijsen had a hand in Semenyo's second goal, winning the ball back on the edge of the Leicester penalty area to allow the Ghana international to pick his spot and score.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Casement Park in Spending Review: Will UK government announce funding?
The government will announce later on Wednesday whether it will make a financial contribution towards the redevelopment of Casement the west Belfast stadium is estimated to cost about £260m - of which £120m in funding is jointly in place from the Stormont Executive, the Irish government and the has been building on the government to make a decision, which is now anticipated as part of the Spending review will allocate money to day-to-day public services for the next three years. It will also set infrastructure budgets for the next four review will directly affect what Stormont ministers have to spend on public services in Northern are also expected to find out if they have succeeded in persuading the Treasury that Stormont's finances require a more generous "needs-based" top-up. Last week, Finance Minister John O'Dowd said he believed the Treasury was in "solution-finding mode" when it came to reaching agreement on funding for Casement Park. Days later, a senior figure in the GAA said the association was "cautiously optimistic" that an announcement on funding was coming this Stormont executive is contributing £62.5m to the project, the GAA will pay £15m, while the Irish government has pledged about £ GAA has acknowledged it will need to increase its commitment."We are prepared to step up. It would be premature to start mentioning figures here. I think it will be higher than £15m", said Stephen McGeehan, the project lead for the stadium Park, with a proposed 34,500 capacity, had been earmarked to host football games at the Euro 2028 football tournament but, with the project on hold, the plan was shelved. Stormont's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has defended his handling of the planned Casement redevelopment and insisted the hold-up is not his has said the GAA will need to make its plans for the stadium more affordable if the government fails to cover the gap for the current proposed rebuild."What we do need to make sure is that any additional public funding that comes forward for sport is done on a fair and equitable basis," he said. Could Stormont get a bigger top-up? When devolution was restored in 2024, Stormont ministers persuaded the Treasury that Northern Ireland's public services were being funded below an objective level of a result any additional funding Stormont gets from Westminster now comes with a top-up - an additional 24p for every will be worth more than £800m over five years, the independent Fiscal Council has Treasury also left the door open for a bigger top-up if there was credible, independent evidence to support ministers believe they have provided that evidence in the form of an analysis by the devolution finance expert Prof Gerry Treasury's response to that will come as Chancellor Rachel Reeves lays out the government's Spending Review in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Furious Jude Bellingham loses his temper AGAIN as England star hounds assistant referee and boots a drinks cooler after controversial disallowed goal in Senegal defeat
Jude Bellingham was unable to contain his emotions after England 's 3-1 defeat by Senegal on Tuesday night, chasing down the fourth official before taking a swipe at a water cooler. The Real Madrid star was still reeling from the decision to disallow his later equaliser for a contentious handball in the lead-up to his strike. Bellingham, who had to be shepherded back onto the pitch by captain Harry Kane to applaud the England fans, booted a cooler after lashing a ball into the air after the final whistle. It was a frustrating night all round for the World Cup hopefuls, just 366 days before the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Thomas Tuchel, appointed on an 18-month contract in January with the stated aiming on winning the competition, made ten changes to the side that earned a narrow win against minnows Andorra on Saturday. The German had hoped to see a marked improvement in performance at the City Ground but instead suffered his first loss as England boss - the nation's first-ever defeat to an African side. Kane's 73rd international goal in the seventh minute of the match got England off to the perfect start before goals from Ismalia Sarr and Habib Diarra just after the hour gave the visitors the lead their display merited. The controversial call of the game came with just a few minutes of normal time to play when Bellingham thought he had grabbed a late equaliser. However, following a VAR review referee Stephanie Frappart was advised to take a second look at the incident. She subsequently chalked off the effort even though replays showed that, despite the ball hitting Levi Colwill's arm, it was not intentional nor was he the scorer - conditions that would normally merit cancellation. Kane slammed the decision which he was adamant was incorrect, while former England striker Ian Wright labelled the call 'pathetic'. Tuchel was also seen confronting Frapport and her team of officials in the middle of the pitch at full-time. Bellingham's distain for drinks coolers dates back to the final of the European Championship later summer, when he kicked out at the container after England's dramatic late defeat. On that occasion after the contest, the midfielder stormed off the pitch and kicked the cooler in frustration and could be seen sat on the England bench looking towards the pitch, appearing to be in a very thoughtful mood. Bellingham eventually returned to the pitch where he was consoled by England Kane and manager Gareth Southgate. Tuesday's defeat raises some concerns over the direction of Tuchel's squad who has precious little time and even fewer quality opponents before next year's World Cup. 'We'll we're not going to panic but for sure, we know that we need to be better,' Kane told ITV post-match. 'There are some ideas that are new for the guys, we have new players coming into the team who don't have experience at the international level. 'It's a mixture of things but there are no excuses. We need to find it quickly, we're not going to meet again for a few months but the World Cup is going to come around very fast so every camp is really important right now.'
Glasgow Times
21 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
England ‘not good enough' but won't panic
Three days on from an underwhelming 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra, Thomas Tuchel's side were again booed off by fans. Goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly inflicted England's first defeat to an African nation following Kane's early opener at the City Ground in Nottingham. Thomas Tuchel suffered a first defeat as England manager (Nick Potts/PA) 'Again, not really good enough,' Kane told ITV Sport. 'We had again moments; just with and without the ball we aren't quite clicking, aren't quite finding the right passes, finding the right tempo. 'One v one, we're losing duels, we're losing just that aggressive nature that we've had and we got punished, we're playing against a good side. We just weren't good enough today. 'We're not going to panic. But for sure we know we need to do better.' England thought they had levelled late on through Jude Bellingham but his effort was ruled out on review for an adjudged handball by Levi Colwill. 'If you know the rules, it's not handball,' said Kane. 'It obviously puts us back in the game at 2-2 and maybe we go on and win the game so it is quite a big moment. 'But that's something to discuss with them (the match officials) afterwards.' England's Jude Bellingham gestures to referee Stephanie Frappart after his goal is disallowed (Mike Egerton/PA) Defeat for England was a first in four matches since the appointment of manager Tuchel. The German coach, who was unhappy with the decision of French referee Stephanie Frappart to disallow Bellingham's effort, said: 'Of course, a disappointing result, not sure if we did not maybe deserve a little bit more result-wise. 'But I felt again we were a little bit frozen, not active enough for a long time of the match. '(We) defended quite well for a long period in the first half, then our best period came when we were 2-1 down. Cheikh Sabaly celebrates Senegal's win (Nick Potts/PA) 'We conceded the first two goals, very easy goals that we need to defend better. 'The reaction was good after we were down. I felt suddenly we were more active, more free, more fluid, more aggressive towards the opponent's goal. 'We had big chances to equalise, we 'equalised' (Bellingham's disallowed effort) and couldn't get the last one.'
