Bournemouth 2-1 Burnley: Clarets squander the lead to lose yet again in relegation showdown

Philip Billing’s 45-yard chip proved to be the decisive moment in this bottom-of-the-table encounter as the Clarets lost for the eighth time in just 10 games.

Vincent Kompany’s men initially took the lead during the first-half through Charlie Taylor’s first goal for the club.

But the Cherries always looked the more likely and eventually hit back through Antoine Semenyo, before Billing’s second-half winner.

Despite being marginally improved from the Brentford defeat last week, the Clarets were still nowhere near convincing enough and can have no complaints with the result.

Once again they were the architect of their own downfall, giving the ball away in their own half on multiple occasions.

Burnley were dealt a cruel blow before the game even got underway with the news that star man Lyle Foster, fresh from signing a new and improved contract, was missing through illness.

Kompany made five changes in total from last weekend’s miserable 3-0 defeat to Brentford.

One was enforced, with Vitinho coming in for the suspended Connor Roberts, who was sent off for two bookable offences against the Bees.

Elsewhere, Josh Brownhill, Anass Zaroury and Luca Koleosho also came into the side alongside the returning Johann Gudmundsson, who missed Burnley’s last five games in all competitions through injury.

For Zaroury it was the winger’s first league start of the season, having previously been left out of Kompany’s squads altogether.

Sander Berge, Mike Tresor and Wilson Odobert were the three to drop out alongside Roberts and Foster.

Hjalmar Ekdal, Jordan Beyer, Manuel Benson and Michael Obafemi all remain sidelined.

As for Bournemouth, they made four changes from their 2-1 defeat to Wolves last week. Goalkeeper Neto was one of the four to drop off, replaced by debutant Radu after picking up an injury.

Arguably the biggest issue for Burnley last week in their humbling at the hands of Brentford was their complacency on the ball.

Two minutes in, they were guilty of the same offence when Josh Cullen was caught napping on the ball. Philip Billing poached the ball off him in the middle of the park before attempting to play in Bournemouth’s dangerman Dominic Solanke, but thankfully Dara O’Shea got back to make a well-timed tackle.

The visitors were given another let-off only two minutes later when they were undone far too easily down their left flank.

The Cherries worked the ball towards Marcus Tavernier at the back post but the chance went to waste after Tavernier opted to pass rather than shoot, despite being in plenty of space, allowing Burnley to get numbers back and clear their lines.

Tavernier attempted to make up for his mishap when he stood over a 25-yard free-kick, which he did well to curl over the Burnley wall, but James Trafford got across well to punch behind.

Bournemouth looked to put Trafford under pressure from the resulting corner as Lloyd Kelly hooked towards goal, but again the Burnley keeper was able to claim.

Burnley’s main threat during the opening stages came from corners, winning three or four in quick succession.

In the 11th minute, another one of them paid dividends as the Clarets took the lead thanks to a sumptuous long-range strike from Charlie Taylor of all people.

Johann Gudmundsson’s delivery was partially cleared to the edge of the box, where Burnley worked it to Taylor who sent a swerving volley past the hapless Radu, who remained rooted to his spot.

Not only was it the goal that gave Burnley the lead, it was also Taylor’s first for the club - on his 198th appearance, no less.

The joy might not have lasted for too long though as Bournemouth almost levelled matters shortly afterwards when Tavernier steered wastefully over the bar after being left in space at the back post.

Burnley clearly didn’t heed the warning, as the hosts didn’t make a mistake with their next chance which followed a sloppy mistake in the middle of the park.

The goalscorer Taylor was the man dispossessed by Antoine Semenyo, who had space to roam into before drilling a low effort through the legs of Dara O’Shea and beyond Trafford into the far corner.

Burnley’s players appealed for a foul on Taylor in the build-up and VAR did indeed check the incident, but the goal was allowed to stand.

As the half drew to a close, Luca Koleosho began to have some joy down Burnley’s right flank, using his pace to good effect to put Bournemouth on the back foot.

One of these occasions led to Zaroury receiving the ball in space just outside the box, but his low drive was comfortably saved by Radu.

His goalkeeping counterpart Trafford continued to be kept busy at the other end, pushing Chris Mepham’s header over the bar after the defender had been left completely unmarked from a corner.

Semenyo almost grabbed a second on the stroke of half time, cutting inside from the right before unleashing a low effort which deflected off Taylor’s legs and into the side netting.

Kompany opted to make a change at the break, a like-for-like one too in the form of Jay Rodriguez, who replaced the isolated Zeki Amdouni.

The start of the second-half was a largely dull affair, although it was dominated by Bournemouth as they looked to edge their noses in front.

Trafford continued to look rash and hesitant in the Burnley goal, but he also deserves credit for standing up to the barrage of pressure that came his way from Bournemouth corners.

The second 45 minutes remained one-way traffic, but there did become a point where it looked like Bournemouth’s pressure was beginning to dwindle.

That was until the 75th minute, when the Cherries took the lead in inexplicable circumstances - with Billing chipping Trafford from all of 45 yards.

Vitinho was guilty of giving the ball away in the middle of the park, something Burnley did all afternoon. Billing noticed Trafford was way off his line and unleashed a pinpoint chip that Trafford did manage to get a hand to, but couldn’t make enough contact to keep it out of his net.

With one minute left on the clock, Burnley thought they had salvaged a point when substitute Rodriguez went through on goal before firing beyond Radu.

But following a lengthy VAR check, which lasted five minutes, the goal was ruled out for offside by the tightest of margins.

It transpired that the VAR officials had initially drawn the wrong lines, showing Rodriguez to be in an offside position, before redrawing and taking into account Rodriguez’s head.

Burnley still found time following the lengthy delay to miss two golden chances to equalise, both coming from Sander Berge at the back post.

The sub was initially denied by Radu at the back post with a header before missing the target completely on the rebound.

The miss summed up what was ultimately another disappointing day at the office for Kompany and his troops.

TEAMS

Bournemouth: Radu, Aarons (Smith), Kelly, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Billing (Rothwell), Tavernier (Kerkez), Scott, Christie, Semenyo (Ouattara), Solanke

Subs not used: Travers, Brooks, Sinisterra, Kluivert, Moore

Burnley: Trafford, Vitinho, O’Shea, Al-Dakhil, Taylor, Cullen (Berge), Brownhill, Gudmundsson (Redmond, Koleosho (Tresor), Zaroury (Bruun Larsen), Amdouni (Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Muric, Delcroix, Cork, Odobert

Referee: Samuel Barrott