Key events
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Bournemouth 3-0 Southampton
Southampton were bright for the first 15 minutes, even if they didn’t create an opening. But I think that last 30 minutes is one of the worst half an hours of Premier League football I have watched in recent years.
45 min: Tavernier is booked for kicking the ball away.
Three minutes added on here. Southampton need half-time.
44 min: Southampton simply cannot get the ball out. There are no discernible patterns of play set up by the time they work the ball into midfield, and with no striker on the pitch, the away side have no target man either.
Credit to Bournemouth for the quality of their press, but Downes and Ugochukwu are complete passengers for Saints, and are constantly having their pocket picked.
42 min: Southampton have had six touches in Bournemouth’s final third, and zero attempts on goal.
41 min: “Fraser, what’s the score? Fraser, Fraser, what’s the score?” serenade the home side.
Bournemouth fans are enjoying this. Russell Martin stands there, glumly, as the home supporters sing “Sacked in the morning”, then “We want you to stay”.
GOAL! Bournemouth 3-0 Southampton (Semenyo 39)
A brilliant third for the home side! Semenyo twice dances past Ugochukwu (who has looked pedestrian tonight), finds a pocket of space to the right of goal and lashes it right into the bottom corner. Ramsdale had no chance! Semenyo is ridiculously two-footed, he is so hard to pin down.
36 min: Hate to say it, but Southampton aren’t very savvy, they don’t have a lot of leaders on that pitch. It is a very young side remember, and while you don’t have to be old to be savvy (it can be coached), it certainly helps.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-0 Southampton (Outtara 32)
Bournemouth, by far the better team now, break down the right. Semenyo twists Taylor into a knot on the byline, lays the ball back to Cook on the edge of the box, and the former Leeds man shoots through a crowd of bodies. It was a weak-ish shot, but hits Outtara on the heel with the Bournemouth winger accidentally deflecting the ball into the corner past Ramsdale! The keeper got a hand to it, but couldn’t keep it out. An unlucky goal to concede, but dreadful defending up to the shot.
30 min: About a year ago, I saw Russell Martin talking with the same fervour to (who I assume was) his son, as he left Shoreham Academy, a local school, as I arrived to play some absolutely atrocious five-a-side football. Have a day off, Russ.
28 min: Mateus Fernandes, who has been anonymous for Southampton in that No 10 position, picks up a booking for a late challenge on Senesi. There is a drinks break and Russell Martin furiously gives instructions to his players. Iraola, remember, has a touchline ban.
26 min: Southampton are struggling to build-up from the back, as is their wont, and lose the ball inside their own half. Tavernier pounces on the loose ball, turns nicely towards goal and hammers a shot towards the top corner. Ramsdale reads it well, and saves well.
23 min: Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook upends Fraser, his former teammate, much to the delight of the home crowd.
21 min: Bournemouth roar forward again, with Ouattara crossing low from the left into Southampton’s six-yard box. Taylor scrambles from left back to scramble it away for Saints, preventing a certain goal. Both Evanilson and Semenyo were lurking.
19 min: That’s the story of Southampton’s season so far. They have had the better of the opening 15 minutes, but a lapse in concentration has cost them.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Southampton (Evanilson 17)
The Brazilian’s first goal for Bournemouth. The home side won a free-kick in Southampton’s half and Tavernier took it quickly, catching Saints’ defence cold. Evanilson stole a march on Harwood-Bellis and latches beautifully onto Tavernier’s clip through, finishing first time past Ramsdale. It was a sort of toe-poke volley, but was still wonderfully popped into the corner.
13 min: A long ball from Southampton (!), and very nearly an opening for the visitors! Dibling latches onto a hopeful punt and does well to control the bouncing ball. The teenager gets a touch past Senesi before being brought down, but referee Michael Oliver doesn’t award the foul! I think that’s a little harsh!
11 min: Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie and Southampton’s Flynn Downes clash on the edge of the visitors’ box. Both are limping but I think both will be OK to continue.
9 min: “Hello from Pittsburgh!”, emails Eric Peterson. “I’m fascinated by the idea of the Netherlands being drawn into the USA’s group at the 2026 World Cup, setting up a clash between the two managers whose consecutive tenures marked the pinnacle of Southampton’s Premier League run last decade [Koeman and Pochettino]. Adam Lallana, the team captain in that Saints era, was 10 months old when Tyler Dibling was born, by the way. Might be some kind of record with that assist-goal combination last week?”
That might be one for the Knowledge, Eric. My guess is that there are plenty of goals with a bigger difference in age between assist-goal combination.
7 min: Another good Saints counter attack, at the end of which Fraser laces a long-range shot, with Kepa forced down to his right. The Spaniard actually spills the ball, but no Southampton player is there to mop up the rebound. Cornet was not alert to it, perhaps a natural striker would have pounced.
4 min: Ugochukwu breaks forward on the left for Southampton and pulls a bobbling cross back from the byline towards the edge of the D. Cornet is there, and fires fiercely at Kepa, but the ball flies just wide! Replays show a crucial block off Senesi’s head, although I’m not sure how much the Argentinian knew about it! Southampton have certainly started the stronger.
2 min: Ryan Fraser, playing on the left wing for Southampton, takes his first touch and is roundly booed by the home crowd. This is the Scot’s first return to this stadium since leaving Bournemouth in 2020 for Newcastle.
Peeeeeeeeeep! And away we go.
The teams are out! Bournemouth is their home black and red stripes, Southampton in a lively, florescent away number.
A reminder that Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola is serving a touchline ban tonight. He’ll be watching on from the stands.
Tyler Dibling is Southampton’s worst-kept secret. The 18-year-old winger looks a bit special, and not just because he wears his socks lower than Jack Grealish. Dibling took his goal really well in the 1-1 draw with Ipswich after a fine pass from Adam Lallana, and also won a penalty in the defeat to Manchester United. I’m really excited to watch him tonight.
And if we’re mentioning Manchester United, this is worth a read:
Graham Potter, former Brighton and Chelsea manager and Sky Sports’ guest pundit tonight on MNF, has just done a very bad job of distancing himself from the permanent England vacancy, with Lee Carsley just in interim charge at the moment.
He is also asked if he has had talks with Manchester United.
I would take everything in the media with a pinch of salt. I seem to be the only manager linked with Stoke City and Napoli in the same week. I have had lots of conversations with lots of people. I think it’s best if I keep those conversations private.
Southampton have just one point from their first five games, despite having an average of 60% possession across those games. What is heartening for Saints fans is that there are just two teams in Premier League history that have gone down with more than 50% possession average: Wigan 2012-13 under Bobby Martínez and Birmingham 2005-06 under Steve Bruce.
That suggests that it is not the system that is Southampton’s problem. But it is still early days yet. This is a huge game for them, and would certainly have been targeted by Russell as a rare away game which is very winnable.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Russell Martin’s Southampton squad tonight is astounding. No strikers but five of them on the bench, alongside just one defender. Will Ryan Fraser, the 5ft4in Scottish dynamo, lead the line? Or will it be Maxwel Cornet, on loan from West Ham, who hasn’t started a Premier League game since January but is in the XI tonight. Aaron Ramsdale, perhaps less astoundingly, starts against his former team.
Bournemouth have tinkered a few things since their defeat at Anfield but their XI is more or less as you would expect. Adam Smith comes into the side for Araujo and captains Bournemouth tonight. What a servant the Englishman has been for the club. Evanilson, meanwhile, is still looking for his first Cherries goal.
The teams!
AFC Bournemouth: Arrizabalaga, Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez, Cook, Christie, Semenyo, Ouattara, Tavernier, Evanilson.
Subs: Travers, Huijsen, Brooks, Scott, Sinisterra, Kluivert, Araujo, Unal, Aarons.
Southampton: Ramsdale, Sugawara, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Taylor, Downes, Ugochukwu, Cornet, Fernandes, Fraser, Dibling.
Subs: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Aribo, Armstrong, Lallana, Stewart, Brereton, Archer, Onuachu.
Referee: Michael Oliver
Preamble
We are still very much in the honeymoon phase of 2024-25: after a few dates, there has been a few butterflies, a couple of nervous but excited glances and all that we know at this stage is that we are excited to know more. And in the cases of Bournemouth and Southampton, there is plenty of learn: the home side are still readjusting replacing one expensive striker (Dominic Solanke) with another (Evanilson), as well as a new goalkeeper between the sticks (Kepa), while Southampton are becoming a social experiment into how brave/stupid one football team can be in continuing to play out from the back. The Saints may still be the bookies’ favourites to be relegated, but they came awfully close to their first win of the season last time out against Ipswich – have they turned a corner?
This may not be a traditional ripsnorter of a fixture/date, or particularly romantic, but there is plenty to keep us interested. Just don’t call Bournemouth v Southampton a derby.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
