Late Mousset Strike Gives Bournemouth Comeback Win
Lys Mousset's late strike was enough to secure an unlikely turn around as Bournemouth beat Stoke City 2-1 at Vitality Stadium.
Eddie Howe named an unchanged side from the team who beat Chelsea on Wednesday, where as the visiting Paul Lambert made three changes to his Stoke side who drew 0-0 with Watford in their last outing. Out went Darren Fletcher, Charlie Adam and Mame Biram Diouf, and in came Geoff Cameron, Peter Crouch and Badou Ndiaye, who made his Premier League debut.
Bournemouth came into the game full of confidence after causing an astonishing upset at Stamford Bridge during the week when they beat the reigning Premier League champions Chelsea 3-0 on their own turf, however it was the visitors who started quickly.
Xherdan Shaqiri was played through on goal before his effort was cleared off the line by Steve Cook. The Swiss international may have felt hard done by, however he only had to wait a matter of seconds before he got his goal.
The resulting throw-in fell to Stoke's £14m deadline day signing Ndaiye who put an inviting ball into a dangerous area, and there was Shaqiri - possibly the smallest player on the pitch - whose free header beat Begovic in the Bournemouth goal to give Stoke the lead. The away fans were soon in full voice after only being able to celebrate one away win all season.
To make matters worse for Bournemouth, Steve Cook went off injured after just 10 minutes after suffering a hamstring injury. Howe decided to replace Cook with Josh King, changing his system from three at the back to a 4-3-3 formation with Ryan Fraser slotting in at right-back.
Bournemouth were growing increasingly frustrated, however created their first real chance of the game with 10 minutes to go before half-time. Junior Stanislas played the ball across the face of goal with Jordon Ibe waiting at the back post. He got his shot away and past Begovic, however Erik Pieters was there to clear off the line and preserve Stoke's lead at the half-time break.
It was a very entertaining first half with both teams playing at a high tempo, and the second half began no differently. Within 20 second of the restart, King found himself on the edge of the box, and unleashed a swerving strike which seemed to confuse Butland, however the England international was able to get a hand to it and parry the ball to safety.
Harry Trump/GettyImages
The home sign began showing signs of desperation, after King was booked by referee Paul Tierney for simulation. He drove into the box and threw himself to the ground, with the referee rightfully seeing no contact between the forward and Kurt Zouma.
With the home fans growing increasingly anxious, Stoke almost doubled their lead when Peter Crouch met a corner from the left but saw his header crash off the top of the crossbar. Crouch only needs one more goal to become Stoke all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League, and was inches away from doing so.
Crouch would be left to rue his miss just minutes later, after neat build up play by Bournemouth on the edge of the box looked to be dealt with by the Stoke defence, however the ball then rebounded into the path of King who slotted the ball beyond Butland to equalise for Stoke with 20 minutes remaining. He couldn't believe his luck, but King had got his side back in the game.
The goal ignited Bournemouth, and had Stoke on the ropes as they searched for a winning goal, and just 10 minutes after equalising went in front. Ibe's deep free-kick found the substitute Lys Mousset at the far post who headed in from close range to complete the turn around.
Bournemouth had only comeback to win a Premier League game after trailing at half-time once in 36 occurrences, however it looked as though Mousset had surely ended that run.
Just minutes after Howe and his Bournemouth side looked desperate, it was then Paul Lambert who was forced to make changes. He turned to Berahino and Diouf who had just 10 minutes to try and salvage something from the game for Stoke.
Unfortunately for Lambert, his side ran out of time and Bournemouth snatched all three points after it looked as though Stoke would earn at least a point. The win now moves Bournemouth up to ninth in the table temporarily with Everton playing Arsenal in the late kick off.
As for Stoke, they now move into the relegation zone in 18th place despite Lambert's positive start to his reign as manager. He will be looking to get back to winning ways when they host fellow strugglers Brighton next weekend.
