AFC Bournemouth 1 - 0 West BromBournemouth claim first win of season as Callum Wilson sinks West Brom
Home team scorersCallum Wilson 79
Bournemouth needed a spark. Eddie Howe had said so during the week. The south-coast club, previously winless in the Premier League, wanted something to get their season up and running.
It might have come from Jack Wilshere, the high-profile loan signing from Arsenal, only for Howe to keep him largely in cold storage. Wilshere was used as a 62nd-minute substitute and, apart from one flick that created an opportunity for Junior Stanislas, his debut was low-key.
Callum Wilson was the Bournemouth hero, and what a feeling it was for him when he touched home the winning goal from Adam Smith’s cross as time ticked down. It was the striker’s first goal since he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in September of last year.
West Bromwich Albion, who have been wracked by internal division since an underwhelming return from the summer transfer window, flickered early in the second half and it might have been a different story had Saido Berahino converted a chance from point-blank range. But there would be no happy return for Tony Pulis to the club where he began his managerial career in the early 1990s and the frustration of the travelling fans was audible in stoppage time.
Howe’s decision to start Wilshere among the substitutes was a major talking point, particularly in light of the fanfare that had accompanied the midfielder’s transfer. Was Howe making the point that nobody walks into his team?
On the other hand, Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, had said on Friday that Wilshere’s lack of fitness was one of the reasons why he had fallen from his immediate favour. Why, therefore, should he be fit enough for Bournemouth? Then again, how can any player be fit enough for the bench and not the starting lineup?
Pulis had started his high-profile new signing, Nacer Chadli, and the £13m club-record purchase from Tottenham Hotspur played on the left of the manager’s 4-1-4-1 system, although he was switched to the right for the second half of the first period.
The tremors from the transfer window continued to be felt, especially in the wake of Pulis’s comments from Friday about how his five buys had not been the “marquee signings” he had wanted. Quite how that made Chadli, Matt Phillips, Brendan Galloway, Alan Nyom and Hal Robson-Kanu feel is anybody’s guess.
Pulis has never been a man to mince his words and the back and forth between him and the Albion chairman, John Williams, has fired the air of tension. A me-and-them feeling is never a good look. Robson-Kanu, who had been without a club since the end of last season, but only joined as a free agent on deadline day, was not a part of the squad as he lacked fitness.
Bournemouth moved the ball smartly, at times, with the full-backs, Smith and Charlie Daniels, ever eager to bomb forward and the right winger, Jordan Ibe, enjoying some nice moments. Howe’s lineup featured pace in attacking areas and Bournemouth were the more progressive team in a first half of few clear-cut chances.
The best one fell to Wilson just before the interval, after Ben Foster had beaten out Stanislas’s shot from outside the area. The angle was unkind and the ball had ricocheted quickly at Wilson, but he knew that he should have done better. His effort ballooned wide.
Ibe had been crowded out in the early running, after Harry Arter’s excellent through-ball, and Stanislas worked Foster on 38 minutes, while Albion’s only first-half flicker was from Berahino. He got the better of Simon Francis after a cross from the right, only to shoot off target.
Foster annoyed the home crowd from as early as the 26th minute with what they perceived as time-wasting on goal-kicks, but there could be little doubt that the visitors were a tough nut to crack. Jonny Evans was commanding in central defence.
Albion squeezed higher up the pitch in the second half; Chadli was briefly prominent and only Berahino knows how he did not open the scoring on 53 minutes. Galloway found space and, after Artur Boruc had denied him, Berahino had the chance on the rebound. Boruc made a fine reflex save.
Albion had a couple of more openings. Claudio Yacob’s corner sparked panic inside the Bournemouth area and Boruc needed to intervene, while Matt Phillips curled a free-kick from the flank, which seemed to be intended as a cross, against the crossbar.
It turned into a decent spectacle. Ibe had gone close on 54 minutes and when Wilshere teed up Stanislas, a big chance beckoned. Foster saved at close quarters. Thanks to Wilson, Bournemouth got the job done.
Guardian