Bournemouth 3 Brighton 0: Andoni Iraola breaks Premier League record as Cherries breeze to easy win
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Howe about that then?
Spaniard Andoni Iraola is a Premier League record breaker at Bournemouth in his very first season in charge.
His Cherries eclipsed the 46 points Eddie Howe’s team achieved seven years ago by sinking South Coast rivals Brighton.
Bournemouth were dominant throughout this combative fixture and romped home with goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unal and Justin Kluivert.
When the Seagulls put away their winless South Coast rivals 3-1 in September they went third in the table but now they are four points adrift of them.
Brighton made seven changes from the team that was spanked 4-0 at home by Manchester City on Thursday.
And one of them presented striker Mark O’Mahony his first league start but unfortunately the teenager played a part in Bournemouth’s opening goal.
Just 13 minutes was on the clock when Senesi nodded home Lewis Cook’s corner after it had bounced off O’Mahony’s shoulder.
Facundo Buonanotte came close to equalising on 28 minutes when he skipped past Senesi, forcing Mark Travers to block his close-range shot.
But Turkish forward Unal should have doubled Bournemouth’s lead from Alex Scott’s pull-back but pulled his shot wide from 12 yards.
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The hosts yet again left their shooting boots behind straight after the break when Justin Kluivert raced clear and drove into the side-netting.
But it wasn’t long before Unal proved his worth in the air with a towering header to make it 2-0.
Kluivert fed Dango Ouattara who ended up leaping over the advertising boards into the crowd after putting over a sumptuous cross.
And there was Unal at the back post waiting to thunder his 52nd minute header into the far corner for his second goal of the campaign.
Albion’s Simon Adingra’s thought he had pulled a goal back almost immediately but his curler was tipped away by Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers.
Substitute Julio Encisco went close with two efforts on the Bournemouth goal but it was the hosts who scored again to take their unbeaten home run to six games.
Sub Ryan Christie put Kluivert clear and Albion defender Lewis Dunk gave the Dutchman far too much room to thump home his ninth goal of the season.
Bournemouth’s deserved victory ended three defeats in a row against Brighton who are now winless in six matches.
But their impressive performance was marred when their Ghana international winger Antoine Semenyo was stretchered off in stoppage time with a leg injury.
