In Eddie Howe’s office, the words of John Wooden, the American basketball coach, adorn a wall. One of Wooden’s renowned quotes refers to ignoring outside interference and a gutsy Bournemouth did just that to defeat Brighton.
Graham Potter accepted Brighton must find a way to arrest their slide in the way Bournemouth did after rediscovering their swagger.
The magnitude of the victory, which was effectively sealed when Callum Wilson rounded Mat Ryan 15 minutes from time to score his first goal since September, was not lost on Howe, whose side had lost 10 of their previous 12 matches. Harry Wilson settled the nerves with a thumping strike after a perfectly weighted pass by Dominic Solanke, Bournemouth’s first goal in more than seven hours of Premier League action.
Pascal Gross, jostling with Callum Wilson, then inadvertently swiped Diego Rico’s corner beyond his own goalkeeper before Callum Wilson added the third. Aaron Mooy scored 10 minutes from time but Bournemouth held on for their first league win in more than a month, when they won at Stamford Bridge in December, and only a second since November.
Howe was typically reluctant to get carried away. “It feels big at the moment but time will tell,” he said. “We had a really big win against Chelsea a few weeks ago and we wanted that to turn our momentum and turn that winning feeling we had that day into more wins. It never happened so I am very calm at this moment to say ‘great result, really pleasing’ but am cautious at the same time to not build it up too much and then go flat again. We really want to kick on at this point.”
The big games just keep on coming, with Bournemouth, who remain in the relegation zone on goal difference, hosting Aston Villa next, while Brighton, who are two points above the dotted line, travel to West Ham on Saturday.
Potter acknowledged the knives are likely to be out for his team after they slipped to a third defeat in four matches. “I can’t complain about that, I can’t be critical of that, that’s the reality of where we are at,” the Brighton manager said. “I’m pretty sure it will be the same people saying Southampton were in trouble not so long back. There is nothing we can do about that.”
For Bournemouth, arguably the most pleasing factor was that they seemed to be back to their old selves, typified by Harry Wilson cornering Bernardo, the Brighton defender, in the opening minute.
A sense of trepidation was inevitable given the mounting pressure on both teams but, after taking the lead, Bournemouth’s tempo troubled Brighton. Howe admitted this was not the perfect performance – Aaron Ramsdale had to make a string of fine saves, notably from Lewis Dunk and Neal Maupay – but it was a marked improvement and the rejuvenated Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson and Harry Wilson all found joy against a brittle Brighton backline.
Solanke has struggled under the weight of his £19m transfer fee since joining from Liverpool 12 months ago but Howe called this his best performance for Bournemouth. The spine of the home side always seemed to have the edge, with Jefferson Lerma impressive in midfield, Nathan Aké imperious in defence and Ramsdale, an £800,000 signing three years ago, outstanding in goal.
Solanke’s graceful pass set up Harry Wilson to fire home and take the sting out of Brighton’s early promise, during which Ramsdale saved superbly from Maupay.
When Rico’s corner landed in the six-yard box, Callum Wilson forced Gross into an error and Bournemouth had a two-goal half-time lead. Potter lamented those five minutes of madness, from which Brighton never recovered, despite stirring after making a triple change on the hour mark, with the substitute Leandro Trossard almost setting up a grandstand finish after Mooy had pulled a goal back.
“Football is not a beauty contest,” Potter said. “There is no value for any styles necessarily, in terms of guarantees. We don’t deserve anything if we cannot defend the box well enough. It is going to be a long, tortuous few days for me. It is not pleasant and it is not nice. We need to work, we need to find a solution and we need to stick together.”
