Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Eddie Howe’s turn. “A tough game … we knew it would be … it was the game we expected … there was a lot of good aspects to our performance, but the final third, no … a lot of effort but not the quality … we did some really good bits … we lacked that killer instinct … Bournemouth were a tough nut to crack … by our very high standards [conceding two goals from corners in a row, after West Ham last week] that’s disappointing, we need to look at it to see what went wrong … I can’t fault the players’ effort … to go 17 unbeaten is incredible … to come away unbeaten is a real positive … Saint-Maximin and Almiron might not be too bad but Willock looks like a hamstring.”
Gary O’Neil talks to Sky. “An improvement on Brighton … we had a bit more of the game today … we looked a threat, we looked solid … we got caught just before half-time which was disappointing, but apart from that, I felt comfortable with the game … we were more of threat than them … we have people coming back, and need to keep pushing, keep improving … we had some big chances … the starting XI and the boys who came on were very good … we need to perform like that and pick up points … they’ve not lost in 17 games and that was the closest they’ve come … I’m excited about the players we have signed and the ones coming back … we go again every week … we go to Wolves and try to win.”
Managerial verdicts to come … but Ben Fisher’s is already in. Here it is!
Player of the match Philip Billing talks to Sky Sports. “A good point but we can be a bit disappointed … we had chances … we should be disappointed not to take three points but Newcastle are a top side and one point will do … we knew we had to be up for it and match them, and we did that well … we looked dangerous going forward … we go again … we defended well and started to look like a proper team … we looked good … we take the one point and build on that in the next games.”
Both teams applaud their fans. Newcastle give theirs some extra love, because they’ve got a long trek home. Then all four corners of the ground rise to give Eddie Howe an ovation. A lovely moment for the erstwhile Bournemouth manager, for whom this reception clearly means an awful lot. He looks emotional, close to tears – good tears, the sweet sort – and it’s a really moving scene. He disappears modestly down the tunnel. His team won’t go above Manchester United, but they move a further point ahead of fifth-placed Spurs with a game in hand. Bournemouth, so close to snatching all three points, will be happy enough with the precious one they earned when it all comes down. They stay second from bottom but nudge a little closer to the safety line.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Man Utd | 22 | 8 | 43 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 22 | 22 | 41 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 23 | 7 | 39 |
| 18 | Everton | 21 | -12 | 18 |
| 19 | AFC Bournemouth | 22 | -24 | 18 |
| 20 | Southampton | 22 | -22 | 15 |
FULL TIME: Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle
Probably the right result on balance, though the hosts came within inches of nicking it, Solanke denied on the line by Trippier. A better point for Bournemouth, who played above their recent levels, than Newcastle, who played below theirs.
Updated
90 min +7: Before the throw, Stephens is booked for kicking the ball away and wasting time. Anderson is then caught offside. That should be that.
90 min +6: Fredericks romps down the right wing but can’t quite get past Gordon and Burn. He settles for a throw, deep in Newcastle territory. From the throw, Solanke drifts in from the right wing only to slice wildly left of the target. That’s most likely Bournemouth’s last chance. Will Newcastle get one as they travel up the other end?
90 min +4: A Newcastle corner from the right. Trippier’s delivery isn’t all that. Tavernier heads clear. Newcastle come again. Tavernier clears again, this time by dribbling upfield. Joelinton scythes him down in the professional style, taking one for the team as Bournemouth threaten to launch a counter.
90 min +2: There will be seven added minutes. A lot of nervous fans watching on.
90 min: Solanke is this close to scoring a winner. Burn is robbed by Traore down the right. He crosses low. Semenyo dummies for Solanke, who backheels towards goal. Pope is beaten, but Trippier swishes off the line at the second attempt. The referee’s watch doesn’t buzz. Most of the ball went over the line … but not all of it. What an intervention by Trippier!
Updated
89 min: Newcastle pin Bournemouth back for a couple of minutes. The home side hold their shape comfortably enough. But then Anderson dribbles in from the left. He’s eased off the ball by Fredericks and Lerma. Newcastle scream for a penalty, but there’s no way it’s being awarded. Then Botman lunges in on Tavernier, and is extremely fortunate not to pick up a second yellow.
87 min: Before it can be taken, Botman shoves Lerma in the chest. Burn isn’t happy with the way Lerma crumples to the floor. For a second, it looks like kicking off, but Lerma eventually gets back up and Botman is booked. Finally Traore lashes a hopeless free kick deep into the stand. What a waste of everyone’s time.
86 min: Semenyo dribbles down the inside-left channel and draws a clumsy foul from Joelinton. A free kick in a dangerous position, just to the left of the Newcastle box, 25 yards out. Traore stands over it.
84 min: Saint-Maximin, grimacing hard, is helped off, hobbling. Anderson comes on in his place.
83 min: Isak crosses from the right. Saint-Maximin goes up with Fredericks at the far post. Fredericks wins a clearing header, then Saint-Maximin goes down having twisted his knee while landing. There was no contact with an opponent. Carabao Cup final injury concerns are suddenly piling up for the Toon.
81 min: Murphy comes on for an ailing Almiron, who landed awkwardly on his arm a couple of minutes ago. Lerma might also have stood on his hand in the same incident.
79 min: Bournemouth make a double change. Fredericks and Semenyo replace Smith and Ouattara.
77 min: Gordon cuts in from the left and takes a bash. The ball pings off Lerma and out for a corner on the left. Trippier takes. Lerma heads clear. Both teams are a little bit frantic at the moment. Neither look totally settled as they pursue a late winner – or try to avoid conceding one.
75 min: Trippier swings the resulting free kick into the mixer. An easy claim for Neto.
74 min: Gordon drops a shoulder with the intention of tearing past Smith along the left touchline. Smith drags him back at the expense of a booking.
Updated
72 min: Neto took a whack from Longstaff there, and requires a bit of treatment. The game restarts after he’s given the once-over and cleared.
70 min: Neto gets away with a big mistake. Saint-Maximin dribbles into the box from the left and hits a weak curler. Neto should gather, but spills the ball off his chest. Longstaff tries to prod the rebound home from six yards, but hits the keeper. The second rebound is poked wide left from six yards by Gordon. What an escape for the keeper!
69 min: The ball bagatelles its way down the inside-right channel. Suddenly it sits up for Isak, who lashes wildly over from a tight angle, ten yards out. The flag eventually goes up for offside. Bournemouth counter, Tavernier cutting in from the left and steering an effort towards the bottom right. He doesn’t quite catch it, and that’s easy for Pope.
67 min: Ouattara cops one in the face from Burn’s flailing arm. On comes the trainer. VAR takes a look, but just like the referee, shows no interest. The physio comes on, though.
65 min: Saint-Maximin dribbles in from the left then crosses deep to absolutely nobody. Goal kick. Speaking of Saint-Maximin, here’s Brian Robson: “If he’s trying to play himself into contention for a regular spot, he’s not doing anything to help his cause, neither effort, direction nor attitude are helping his cause. Please mention that I used nor in a sentence also.”
63 min: Tavernier takes a good whiff of smelling salts, then comes on to replace Anthony.
62 min: Solanke runs after a long pass down the right. He tangles with last man Botman and goes to ground. He wants a free kick, and possibly a red card for Botman, but there really wasn’t much in it, and it’s not even a foul. The home fans aren’t happy, mind.
61 min: Traore curls the resulting free kick into the Newcastle box from a deep position on the right. Burn is forced to telescope a leg and deflect out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
60 min: Smith bursts down the inside-right channel only to be clipped from behind by Gordon, who goes into the book.
59 min: Traore pings a pass down the right for Ouattara to chase. Pope again denies Ouattara by striding out of his box and belting the ball into the stand.
58 min: All a bit scrappy and disjointed again. This hasn’t been a classic.
56 min: Zemura races with great purpose down the inside-left channel. He’s making good ground, only to be robbed elegantly by Almiron, who zips off up the other end. The ball’s given to Saint-Maximin, who glides in from the left and aims for the top-right corner. He only finds the top-right corner of the stand behind.
54 min: Gordon barges into Lerma and concedes a free kick near the centre circle. It’s played down the left for Zemura, who diddles his way past Almiron but can’t get around Trippier. Goal kick.
Updated
52 min: Senesi has taken a whack to the coccyx – that’s gotta hurt – and makes way for Mepham.
51 min: Burn is extremely fortunate not to go into the book for a frustrated bash at a ball that had gone out for a Bournemouth throw. The referee Stuart Attwell is in a mellow mood.
50 min: Isak competes for a long ball with Stephens. He spins away from his opponent and for a second looks to be clear on goal, but Senesi comes across to deal with the danger.
48 min: Lerma creams a pass down the right, nearly releasing Ouattara. Pope is forced to race out of his area to blooter clear.
46 min: Bournemouth fly out of the traps and instigate some head tennis in the Newcastle box. Nothing comes of it, but their intention to go again is writ large.
Bournemouth get the second half underway. No changes. “In a potentially awkward coincidence, Bournemouth defender Adam Smith shares his name with a renowned 18th-century economist and philosopher who wrote, ahem, The Wealth of Nations.” Peter Oh, there, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the unfettered free-market kool-aid.
Half-time schadenfreude. With apologies to Saints fans, here’s something to make Bournemouth supporters feel a little better.
HALF TIME: Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle
Tough on Bournemouth, who were the better side. Newcastle had been awful. But cream has a habit of rising, and that was one heck of a swashbuckling equaliser just before the half-time whistle! All set up for a very interesting second half.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle (Almiron 45+2)
Newcastle have been poor during this first half, but they’ll get out of it on terms! Saint-Maximin drifts in from the left. He rolls a pass towards Longstaff, bombing into space down the middle. Longstaff pearls a low drive towards the bottom right. Neto saves spectacularly, only for the ball to rebound to Almiron, who opens his body and slots across the keeper and into the bottom left!
Updated
45 min: Ouattara dribbles down the right and crosses low for Zemura, who turns down the chance to get a quick shot away from the edge of the box. A decent half-chance passes Bournemouth by.
44 min: A little bit of space down the left for Isak, who goes on to dribble an extremely tame shot at Neto. Easy for the keeper. He’s had very little to do so far. Newcastle have been poor.
42 min: Stephens brushes Saint-Maximin off the ball with ease. About one second later, Longstaff comes clattering in by way of retribution. He arrived at just the right moment in pure comedic terms, but in relation to the laws of the game, that’s a no-no. Foul!
40 min: Saint-Maximin skedaddles down the left and nearly finds Gordon in the middle with his cross. Stephens is on point to deal with the danger.
38 min: “Aw *&*^%$^%£&^%!” Some crystal-clear (and beautifully timed) exasperated effing and jeffing from the stands as Bournemouth ship possession unnecessarily in the midfield. Even better, there’s no pious apology for it from Sky’s commentary team. Full marks all round.
36 min: Willock goes down feeling the back of his leg. He’s not able to continue. Gordon comes on in his place. “Sport is amazing!” blurts Jeff Sax. “Especially when very rich clubs lose to the regular clubs.”
34 min: A ball swung into the Newcastle box from the right. Solanke has a free header, six yards out, but can’t get any real purchase on the ball. An easy claim for Pope, who would have had little chance had Solanke managed to guide it either side of the keeper.
33 min: This is the first time Newcastle have conceded the first goal in a Premier League match since the middle of September, 15 matches ago. The opponents that day? No prizes for guessing. Billing with the opener that day, Bournemouth going on to earn a point after a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park. Sport is kind of odd, isn’t it.
31 min: Trippier tries to respond immediately with a cross whipped in from the right. Neto claims confidently. The home fans are in good voice now, as you’d expect.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Newcastle (Senesi 30)
Traore hits it long. The ball’s flicked on at the near post by Ouattara, who guides the ball towards the bottom-right corner. It’s probably heading wide, so Senesi arrives to poke home. Easy as that!
Updated
29 min: Billing strides purposefully down the middle of the park, exchanges passes with Anthony down the left, and wins Bournemouth’s first corner of the evening. Traore to take.
28 min: Anthony attempts to comply, but his attempt to curl a shot into the top right swerves away from goal rather than towards it.
26 min: Solanke shoots viciously from 25 yards but the shot is blocked easily enough. Goodness knows this game could do with a goal.
25 min: Trippier and Isak probe down the right and earn Newcastle another corner. Trippier fires it in. Senesi heads it clear. The ball’s sailing out for a throw. Trippier, eager to get on with things, catches the ball before it goes out of play. As he takes the throw, the whistle goes for handball. A curio.
23 min: It’s all a bit slow and scrappy now, which presumably will suit Bournemouth more than Newcastle. It certainly doesn’t suit the neutral onlooker.
21 min: A corner on the right leads to another on the left. Trippier and Saint-Maximin play it short, and what a hash they make of it.
20 min: Schar creams a pass down the inside-right channel to realise Isak, who enters the box but hesitates before shooting, allowing Zemura to slide in to block at the expense of a corner.
19 min: Traore turns into space down the right and rolls a lovely pass along the flank for Ouattara to chase. Solanke is free in the middle, waiting for the cross that would surely result in his at least working Pope. But Ouattara can only feather the ball with his boot, almost a complete whiff, and Newcastle area able to clear their lines. That had potential.
17 min: Newcastle haven’t really got going yet. Not the fast start Eddie Howe was talking about.
15 min: Ouattara tries to release Solanke down the middle with a slide-rule pass, but the ball deflects off Botman and away from his team-mate. Bournemouth are suddenly playing with a confidence that belies their position in the table.
13 min: Zemura makes a proper nuisance of himself down the left. He bursts into space but his cross is half-cleared. Bournemouth come again, Anthony crossing from the same flank. Solanke eyebrows the ball towards the bottom right, forcing Pope to tip around the post. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but there was some nice football from Bournemouth during that little burst of activity.
11 min: Newcastle win the first corner of the game down the right. Schar meets it, rising highest eight yards out, but sends a weak header off target. A decent chance, that.
9 min: Solanke and Traore combine well down the inside-left channel but can’t quite open Newcastle up. Then Zemura nips in front of Almiron to take the ball away, only for the referee to absurdly award Newcastle a pressure-releasing free kick, presumably impressed by Almiron’s triple salchow as he fell.
7 min: Lerma barges Willock out of play on the Newcastle left, just in front of the dugouts. A sore one for Willock, who lands awkwardly on the artificial turf beside the pitch. Newcastle’s bench rises to discuss the matter with the referee, and are quickly told to pipe down. It’s not even a foul. Throw to Bournemouth.
5 min: Lerma looks long down the middle for Solanke, but there’s way too much juice on the pass and it flies through to Pope.
4 min: Bournemouth attempt to play out from the back. Newcastle turn up the press. Almiron eventually deflects Senesi’s panicked clearance out for a goal kick. A passage of play that won’t settle any home nerves.
2 min: Isak chases a long pass down the left only to be turned away by Smith. Other than that, it’s been a fairly nondescript start.
The players take a knee to show solidarity in the fight against racism … then Newcastle get the ball rolling. A fine post-afternoon-in-the-pub atmosphere at Dean Court.
The teams are out! Bournemouth wear their AC Milan inspired red and black stripes, while Newcastle sport third-choice white shirts with green trim. A warm reception for Eddie Howe as he returns to his old stomping ground, much as you’d expect. A game with big implications at both ends of the table coming right up!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Man Utd | 22 | 8 | 43 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 21 | 22 | 40 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 23 | 7 | 39 |
| 18 | Everton | 21 | -12 | 18 |
| 19 | AFC Bournemouth | 21 | -24 | 17 |
| 20 | Southampton | 22 | -22 | 15 |
Eddie Howe, who reports that Callum Wilson has a “very minor hamstring complaint”, talks to Sky. “I am excited to see [Isak] today … Anthony Gordon did really well in his appearance last week … but I’ve decided to stick faith with the players … the surroundings are familiar but we are here to do a job, we’re desperate to win, and we’re focused on that … Bournemouth statistically start well, so the first 15, 20 minutes is crucial for us.”
Gary O’Neil speaks to Sky Sports. “Fine margins … we need to be better in the final third … when we’re defending our goal … very fine margins … we’ve put in a lot of work this week and hope to see an improvement … Newcastle are a tough team to hurt, they’re a good side, it’ll be a tough game … we have things in place we hope we can cause them problems.”
Bournemouth make two changes to the XI selected to start the 1-0 loss at Brighton. Dominic Solanke returns from injury and replaces Antoine Semenyo, while Jack Stephens comes in for Chris Mepham. Semenyo and Mepham drop to the bench.
Newcastle make just one change to their starting XI in the wake of the 1-1 draw against West Ham. Alexander Isak replaces Callum Wilson, who misses out altogether. Anthony Gordon is on the bench once more.
The teams
Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Stephens, Senesi, Zemura, Outtara, Billing, Lerma, Anthony, Traore, Solanke.
Subs: Travers, Fredericks, Mepham, Christie, Rothwell, Tavernier, Vina, Moore, Semenyo.
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Isak.
Subs: Dubravka, Dummett, Gordon, Ritchie, Lewis, Fraser, Murphy, Anderson, Miley.
📝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 📝
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) February 11, 2023
🔺 Solanke starts
🔺 Stephens back in
🔺 Tavernier on the bench
Our line up for #BOUNEW 💪💪 pic.twitter.com/bC1qWb1o33
HOWAY NEWCASTLE! ✊#BOUNEW pic.twitter.com/ILknbuAxdS
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) February 11, 2023
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Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the Premier League fixture between The Club Eddie Howe Made Famous and The Club Eddie Howe Is About To Make Even More Famous Than It Already Is. The former desperately need the three points in their battle against relegation; the latter wouldn’t mind them as they make their ahead-of-schedule bid for a spot in the Champions League. Neither side is flying – Bournemouth have won just one of their last 12 Premier League matches, while Newcastle have drawn four of their last five in the division – but the Toon will fancy their chances in a fixture they won 4-1 the last time it was played. Kick off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!
