AFC Bournemouth 1 - 3 Stoke

AFC Bournemouth 1 - 3 Stoke

Stoke new boy Giannelli Imbula inspires convincing win at Bournemouth

Home team scorers
Matt Ritchie 57

Away team scorers
Giannelli Imbula 9
Ibrahim Afellay 52
Mato Joselu 55


Joselu heads the third goal for Stoke against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

It had been a long time coming, more than 450 minutes of Premier League football in fact, but Stoke finally ended their barren run in scintillating style. Mark Hughes’s side, likened to Barcelona for their stylish attacking football earlier this season, never looked bereft of their confidence here, despite being without their captain Ryan Shawcross or a goal in their past five league matches.

Stoke, in a pristine all-white strip, rolled up their sleeves to dig in and make things uncomfortable for Bournemouth from the off. Hughes’s team defended like giants across the pitch, from Mame Biram Diouf to Marc Muniesa, who barely gave Benik Afobe a sniff. Bournemouth were a shadow of their usual selves and any rhythm was disrupted by the industrious Stoke pairing of Glenn Whelan and Giannelli Imbula, while Jack Butland was clearly ordered to slow things down.

Xherdan Shaqiri saw his effort only partially cleared by Simon Francis, with the ball dropping kindly for Imbula. The Frenchman, who became Stoke’s £18.3m record signing last month, was invited to let fly and sent his first-time volley arrowing across goal and into the corner past Artur Boruc. After just 99 minutes of English football, Stoke supporters – some topless even in freezing conditions on the south coast – were already singing Imbula’s name.

Bournemouth hatched a quick response, with Marc Pugh crossing for Afobe, but the striker could only swing his boot at thin air. Bournemouth left-back Charlie Daniels then ran the length of the pitch to inject some urgency into a tepid home display but he, too, could not find the isolated Afobe.

Stoke manager Hughes was forced to withdraw the excellent Muniesa at the break, after he pulled up following a challenge with Bournemouth’s Adam Smith. Moments before, Muniesa was perhaps fortunate to escape a booking or worse for failing to snuff the ball away from Afobe, who had raced clear through on goal. Referee Graham Scott, who had another ominous outing after his bizarre officiating at Swansea earlier this month, left Eddie Howe incensed.

For the first seven minutes of the second half Howe will have been largely pleased. His his half-time substitutes, Matt Ritchie and Joshua King, had made an instant impact. Stoke were camped inside their own half and Bournemouth began to flood forward in numbers. Stoke goalkeeper Butland was forced into a smart stop, spreading himself superbly to deny Junior Stanislas.

But then Stoke counter-attacked in devastating style. Jon Walters bamboozled Steve Cook, after he found a pocket of space on the right flank behind the Bournemouth defender, before picking out Afellay with a sideways pass. Afellay did the rest, sweeping home an unstoppable strike. Stoke were comfortable again and substitute Joselu was next to capitalise on another open invitation from Bournemouth’s defence. Shaqiri was the orchestrator on this occasion, crossing for the unmarked Spanish striker, who headed past Boruc with ease.

Two minutes later, Bournemouth winger Ritchie, having seen Imbula and Afellay’s forays into goal of the month territory, was determined to file his own contender for that accolade. Daniels went forward down the left before crossing for Ritchie, who lashed a first-time volley past Butland. King later flashed the ball across goal but Stanislas failed to convert.

The on-loan Roma forward, Juan Iturbe, who has scored consecutive hat-tricks for Bournemouth’s development squad, was introduced late on in place of Stanislas but by then the match was out of sight.

Bournemouth, though, will hope this defeat can prove just as galvanising as the reverse fixture, when they lost 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium in September. Callum Wilson was carried off that day and long-term injuries were supposed to derail Bournemouth’s hopes of survival. Since then, they have lost only seven of their 18 matches. While they are capable of much better than this, they must begin to perform again if they are stay above the dotted line in May.

Guardian