Manchester City, Arsenal and now Tottenham
Tottenham becomes the latest high-profile Premier League team to lose at BournemouthBy STEVE DOUGLASAP Sports WriterThe Associated Press
Manchester City, Arsenal, and now Tottenham.
The list of top Premier League teams beaten at Bournemouth this season is growing.
Dean Huijsen took advantage of Tottenham’s weakness at set pieces to head home a 17th-minute winner in Bournemouth’s 1-0 victory on Thursday.
Bournemouth climbed into ninth — a point and a place above Tottenham in the standings — and underlined its penchant for surprising high-profile visitors to Vitality Stadium.
Man City’s remarkable four-game losing run in the Premier League started with a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth, while fellow title contender Arsenal’s first loss of the season also came at the Vitality, 2-0 on Oct. 19.
This was Tottenham’s sixth defeat of the campaign. The team now has as many wins as losses, highlighting the inconsistency blighting its season.
Its inability to defend set plays continues to hurt Ange Postecoglou’s side. A week after Roma scored twice from them in a 2-2 draw in the Europa League, Huijsen roamed free in the area at a corner and headed home unmarked.
Postecoglou said in May said he “wasn’t interested” about his side’s fallibility while defending set pieces, and said after losing 1-0 to Arsenal in September — after a goal from Gabriel at a corner — that “it’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that.”
IWOBI DOUBLE
Alex Iwobi scored goals early and late in the game to lead Fulham to a 3-1 win over Brighton.
The Nigeria winger intercepted a stray pass out from the back by Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and slotted into an unguarded net for the opener in the fourth minute and curled home Fulham’s clinching goal in the 87th.
Carlos Baleba equalized for Brighton in the 56th before Brighton midfielder Matt O’Riley – a former Fulham academy player – deflected the ball into his own net from a corner to put the home side back in front.
Fulham climbed to sixth in the standings, a point and a place behind Brighton.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
