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Bournemouth's Francisco Evanilson celebrates scoring. Alamy Stock Photo

Bournemouth's €48 million man key as Southampton's miserable start continues

Club-record signing Evanilson impressed as the Cherries moved above Man United up to 11th.

BOURNEMOUTH’S RECORD signing Evanilson scored his first goal for the club as the Cherries beat Southampton 3-1 on Monday.

The Brazilian international sparked a three-goal blitz from the home side in the opening 39 minutes as Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo also struck.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis pulled a goal back for Saints early in the second half, but they remain in the bottom three and without a win since their return to the Premier League.

Bournemouth climbed above Manchester United into 11th with their second win of the campaign.

Evanilson has big shoes to fill as the replacement for Dominic Solanke, who departed to Tottenham for a club-record fee last month.

The £40 million (€48 million) striker did not get off to a good start as he missed a penalty in a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in Bournemouth’s last home game.

However, he banished those memories by latching onto Marcus Tavernier’s quickly taken free-kick on 17 minutes.

Ouattara was then in the right place to deflect Lewis Cook’s shot past Aaron Ramsdale.

Semenyo has so far filled the void left by Solanke and his fierce drive found the bottom corner for his third goal in six Premier League appearances this season.

It was a familiar tale for Southampton as their dominance of possession counted for little in terms of points.

Russell Martin’s men sit second bottom with just one point from their opening six games.

Last season all three promoted sides were relegated from the Premier League for the first time since 1997/98.

The early evidence of this season also suggests the gulf between the Championship and the top tier is becoming increasingly difficult to breach for teams coming up.

Ipswich and Leicester have also failed to register a win in their opening six league matches but do at least sit outside the bottom three.

– © AFP 2024

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