Bournemouth

Mark Mitchener
BBC Sport senior journalist

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Just when a run of six Premier League games without a win had threatened to derail Bournemouth's season, the Cherries moved firmly back on track with Monday's 1-0 win over Fulham which lifted them to eighth place on goal difference, and back in the mix for potential European qualification.

The complicated mathematical conundrum of 'how many English teams can qualify for Europe' has been made a little clearer with confirmation of a fifth Champions League slot, while Aston Villa's elimination from the top-tier Uefa competition on Tuesday leaves Arsenal as the Premier League's sole remaining representative.

The second-placed Gunners hold a nine-point advantage over sixth place with six games left, leaving the 'what if Arsenal win the Champions League but finish outside the top five' permutation receding into improbability.

So, five teams for the Champions League, sixth place for the Europa League, and – making the assumption that Newcastle, with their game in hand, might also expect to finish in the top six – the Magpies' Conference League spot (for winning the EFL Cup) should go to seventh place.

Or, potentially lower. The four FA Cup semi-finalists are Nottingham Forest (3rd), Manchester City (5th), Villa (7th) and Crystal Palace (12th). So, as things stand, any of the first three of those teams lifting the Cup would drop Conference League qualification to eighth place.

While the six-point gap between seventh and eighth looks challenging with only six games left, Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton are locked on 48 points between eighth and 10th – so it will not just be Brighton's long-established rivalry with Palace making sure that this trio of teams will hope anyone other than the Eagles lifts the FA Cup.

That said, those last half-dozen games are far from straightforward for Andoni Iraola's Cherries, who face Palace, Manchester United, Arsenal, Villa, Manchester City and Leicester.

However, the only one of those teams to defeat Bournemouth in the reverse fixtures earlier this season was… seemingly relegation-doomed Leicester, which just shows how trying to make any sort of prediction at this stage of the season is almost impossible!

Bournemouth are resigned to losing Dean Huijsen this summer, but the defender would prefer a move to another Premier League club over a switch to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. (Talksport), external

Tottenham have identified Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, Fulham boss Marco Silva and Brentford head coach Thomas Frank as candidates to replace Ange Postecoglou should he be dismissed. (Teamtalk), external

However, Iraola is likely to snub the chance to join Spurs in favour of remaining at Bournemouth, as the Cherries eye playing European football next season. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Sam Davis
Fan writer

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Bournemouth have a plethora of goalkeepers on their books and the future is bright, as there is excitement around young stoppers Callan McKenna and Alex Paulsen, the latter currently out on loan with Auckland.

Moving up the chain, both experienced keeper Neto and the ever reliable Mark Travers are out on loan at Arsenal and Middlesbrough respectively, plus the club still have Will Dennis as first team cover.

However, it is Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga who has been the ever-present between the sticks this campaign, so should the Cherries do all they can to secure him permanently in the summer?

Kepa still stands as the world's most expensive goalkeeper having moved to Chelsea for around 80m euros in 2018, so it was seen as a real coup from Bournemouth to grab the Spaniard on loan for this season. Andoni Iraola was clearly a key factor having both worked together previously at Athletic Bilbao, so providing Iraola stays put (please), then it feels as if this is a deal that can get done.

Chelsea would reportedly take a low transfer fee to get Kepa off their wage bill and Bournemouth are expected to cash in on Travers and also to allow Neto to depart, so a first-choice keeper will more than likely be needed.

Elsewhere, there are plenty of rumours circulating involving other keepers like Liverpool's Caomhin Kelleher and ex-Cherry Aaron Ramsdale, but maybe the ideal solution is already at the club in Kepa.

The win against Fulham underlined his importance to us, and his experience and calm nature in nets has been evident. Although he has made a few costly errors, on the whole he's been an upgrade and looks set to be a part of Bournemouth's greatest ever Premier League campaign.

Find more from Sam Davis at Back of the Net, external

Chris Wise
5 Live commentator at Vitality Stadium

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Bournemouth's backline has been at the forefront of Andoni Iraola's mind for a number of weeks now. On multiple occasions, he has highlighted not just the number of goals they've conceded, but perhaps more the manner in which they've been conceding them. That's why the clean sheet in the win over Fulham would have meant so much to him.

Iraola made a big call in leaving out Ilia Zabarnyi on Monday night. It was the first time he'd ever chosen to drop the Ukrainian defender. Zabarnyi has set a very high bar for himself since his arrival at Bournemouth, and his performances in recent week haven't hit his usual mark.

Marcos Senesi stepped in against Fulham, but he had a difficult first-half, so much so that Iraola had to swallow his initial decision to drop Zabarnyi as he then brought him on at half-time in Senesi's place.

That was a perfect example of Iraola's decisiveness. He wasn't afraid to drop Zabarnyi initially, but then didn't leave Senesi on the pitch longer than he needed to just because of his principles. That's something Iraola should be praised for.

And then across the backline, there's the very real prospect of both Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez departing Bournemouth this summer. Kerkez in particular was excellent again last night. He's quickly emerged as one of the Premier League's best full-backs, and is going to be mightily hard to replace if he does leave Vitality Stadium.

There's more than a few defensive headaches going on for Iraola right now.

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We asked for your thoughts after Monday's Premier League game between Bournemouth and Fulham.

Here are some of your comments:

Bournemouth fans

Matt: Quick out of the blocks but then we came up against quality opposition. We rode our luck several times, having not extended our lead, and a dogged performance in the second half ground out the vital win. Kepa was a deserved man of the match recipient.

Nick: Straight off attacking, as per usual. An unlucky miss off the woodwork, that has happened 21 times this season. Our second half performance was probably just us protecting our fine goal scored in the first minute of the game, The tactics were the best part. Well deserved.

Wing Lam: We showcased how strong we are in terms of pulling Fulham in all directions in the first half and we could have easily been 2-0 up at half-time. After the break, we showed incredible resilience to keep a clean sheet, particularly when Fulham have a deeper squad to call on to attack us. The consequence was a superb 1-0 win. Long may this continue. We should secure a European spot if we keep this up!

Tony: We looked very tired and gave the ball away too easily.

Fulham fans

Will: That might be that for our European football hopes. There are still a few games left, but the desire seems to be slipping away and fast.

David: There were far too many misplaced passes and weak attempts on goal. A lack of consistency is hurting our European football ambitions. At least Bernd Leno was on-form to prevent any more goals from Bournemouth. However, our up and down performances might lead to us beating Chelsea on Sunday. A double over them would make many fan's season.

Mark: Fulham have improved from last year, but I'd personally put that down to good transfer business rather than Silva himself.

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Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "It was a big win. We needed to win this game and I am very pleased with how we won. Especially defensively because that is what has kept us out of the points lately and a clean sheet against a team like Fulham is very important. We defended really well, still created our chances and scored our goal.

"In the last few weeks we have conceded a couple of set plays and poor goals to concede that we hadn't been conceding all season. In the last few games the opponents were scoring two goals and when you concede two goals it is very difficult to win a Premier League game.

On the half time change: "Now we have centre-backs available it is always a difficult decision. Marcos [Senesi], Dean [Huijsen] and Zaba [Zabarnyi] have all been performing so well this season so it was hard to leave Zaba out. I thought the game was good for Marcos, he is very good in the press and the build up and dealing with players between the lines. After the yellow card I did not want to take any risks."

On matching last season's points tally: "It is one of the goals that we have. We have the first chance to beat it against Crystal Palace on Saturday. It is not going to be easy, every point you get is expensive but we are in a good place."

• With his eighth goal of the Premier League season, Bournemouth goal-scorer Antoine Semenyo has now matched his best-ever return for a single league campaign, level with his tally for the Cherries last season and also 2021-22 with Bristol City in the Championship.

Emily Salley
BBC Sport journalist

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It had been a miserable two months for Bournemouth in the Premier League.

After putting themselves firmly in the running for European football next term, it looked like those dreams were fading after a winless run of six league games.

Gathering just two points from a possible 18, Andoni Iraola's side were slipping down the table.

How quickly things can change. All Bournemouth needed was 53 seconds.

Antoine Semenyo's early clinical finish was enough for the Cherries to avoid falling six points behind Fulham and ensure their European hopes lived on.

Eighth place - where Bournemouth now find themselves - is likely to be enough for a Europa Conference League qualification spot, as long as League Cup champions Newcastle and the winners of the FA Cup finish in the top seven.

However, there is still a long road ahead and Bournemouth face three of the top seven in their next six games, with a tricky run of fixtures against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City.

Bournemouth defeated Fulham with a first-minute goal from Antoine Semenyo.

Were you at Vitality Stadium or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Bournemouth's performance

What did you make of Fulham's display?

Come back to this page on Tuesday to find a selection of your replies

I watched Bournemouth against West Ham last week and they deserved to beat them, so I don't think their form is as bad as their run of two points from their past six games suggests.

Fulham, meanwhile, took the scalp of mighty Liverpool to underline how capable they are - but they seem to lack the consistency they will need to really push for the Champions League places from here.

Let's face it, though, I find both of these teams very hard to predict.

Whichever way I go with this one, the opposite will happen - so I am going to hedge my bets and go for a draw.

I was going to go for it to finish 2-2 because both teams have got a lot about them going forward, but my daughter, Sophia, says it will be 1-1. If I lose this week because of this game, then it is her fault.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Read the full predictions and have your say

Bournemouth and Chelsea are willing to pay 35m euros (£30.3m) to sign 23-year-old American midfielder Johnny Cardoso from Spanish club Real Betis. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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There are lots of different perspectives in terms of how you watch a game of football, and I think for the majority of time the people in the stadium get the best atmosphere, but the worst views of how a game has actually gone.

You don't really get the chance to see multiple replays and have discussions about things, because you just get caught up in the moment.

With the incoming semi automated offsides, they did promise it earlier in the season - but I think the caveat was they're only going to do it when it's ready.

It is a positive that they didn't do it when it wasn't ready.

One upside to to the new technology is some of the arguments disappear. Previously you could say 'but it looks like it's this to me' or 'it looks like it's that to me'. When it is presented now, there aren't many people that will then be looking at the animation, going back to the video, and then going down a proper conspiracy rabbit hole.

So, it ends more arguments, not all arguments, but more arguments.

I think people, as a consequence, will be more accepting of it.

But, I still do believe that there's things for people to understand, because it can't be used in every situation. There are certain decisions which can still be a little bit more complex, and there's certain times where human intervention will still need to be brought in.

I wouldn't say it's as clear as, say, goal line technology, but it's a step in the direction to where most people feel more comfortable accepting the outcome and the speed of it as well will be encouraged.

It's not to say that it's going to be instant. If you believe this is going to be perfect, and always extremely fast, ask yourself, why do you think that?

Unless somebody has told you that from PGMOL, then take it with a pinch of salt and you see how it goes.

I think it's something that many people have seen before so hopefully there will be fewer arguments.

But, because it's football, there'll always be something to argue about the end of the day.

Tyrese King
BBC Sport journalist

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has been speaking to the media before Monday's Premier League game against Fulham (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• On Ryan Christie having groin surgery: "Christie is out for the season. He has needed surgery and he has been pushing through pain all season but now is the moment where his body tells him no, it's enough you can't keep playing. Our aim with him is to have him ready to start pre-season."

• With more team news: "We still have three days until Monday night, so we will try with Justin [Kluivert], Marcus Tavernier and Luis Sinisterra. Of the three of them, Sinisterra is the one with less of a chance but we will try. That's our situation right now."

• On rivalry with Fulham: "We are three points behind them. They are a team who we have been fighting against more or less since the two seasons that I have been here. I think we just finished above them last season. They are in a good spot after beating Liverpool and I hope that now we can play well, because I feel like we need it."

• He also said: "I think that they have a very nice squad, they don't have a star or a best player but I like a lot of the players and they perform consistently very well."

• Iraola says "he has enough problems now" in a joking manner and has not started thinking about transfer business in the summer.

• On Dean Huijsen's future: "My only concern with Dean is that he keeps his focus here. He trains very well, he's very focused on improving individually and improving the team collectively. We have some important games ahead of us and I see him in a really good place. I don't think the noise around him is affecting him, I see him in a good place."

• On Alex Scott's best position: "With Alex with me, it's quite clear what his best position is which is the number eight. That's where he's more comfortable and he can develop as a great number eight. But he can also play as a six, a 10, a winger and also a right-back."

• On not winning in the six games: "Obviously we have not been as brilliant playing but I think we have been competitive. I think the main difference has been the goals we have conceded. We have conceded two goals against Ipswich, Brentford and West Ham. These are games that previously we have managed better."

• On player's feeling fatigue, Iraola said the only game he felt it was an issue was against Manchester City in the FA Cup but he concedes injuries have had an impact on their "offensive level" from the bench.

Follow all of Bournemouth's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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The latest episode of BBC Radio Solent's Cherries: Unpicked is available now on BBC Sounds.

Jordan Clark and former Cherries defender Joe Partington discuss the team's winless run, Ryan Christie's groin injury and Evanilson's fine goalscoring run.

Listen on BBC Sounds

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We asked for your views on what nobody is currently talking about at Bournemouth, but should be.

Here are some of your comments:

Nathan: We've had a real dip in form. Players looking tired and injuries are affecting the squad again. Some favourable fixtures coming up so hopefully finish the season strong.

Jules: Bournemouth fans talk about him but it's about time everyone recognised what a player Ryan Christie is. Great attitude and great work ethic and what he does on the pitch is brilliant. He'll be missed for the rest of the season, but hopefully having the surgery now will see him fighting fit for next season.

Bernard: A lot of supporters might not agree with this but although I loved the good run we had, I always had a feeling that we were punching above our weight. I hope we can have a good run in and recover our previous good form. At the start of the season, I said I would be very happy with a top-half finish. That still remains. Anything else will be a bonus for me.

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I think in the last five games or so Bournemouth have been conceding too many goals, which then applies a lot of pressure in terms of the team trying to continue to get wins and positive outcomes.

At times this season you could argue they have been overperforming, especially given the nature of the injury crisis that they had.

The style of play they have is very much on the front foot, it's high energy, it's lots of sprints, being able to stretch your opposition, and being a really good attacking force.

I think at times maybe there are moments where they possibly do need to slow it down which I don't think is necessarily their strength. Andoni Iraola's style means they can win against anyone, but, unfortunately for them, they can also go on runs like this.

They are still a very good side. There's still a chance that come the end of the season they could be in Europe. But, with the difficulty of this league, some of these dips in form can come at the worst time.

For Bournemouth it's just a case of trying to maintain belief because as soon as you lose it, you start to see some of the flaws that maybe existed before.

When you're playing well and winning, it's the easiest game in the world. But, ultimately, the teams you play against in the Premier League are just as good as you are most of the time.

It's not like Iraola is a 10-year veteran manager and what he says after games is valid because he's showing that at times his squad are missing out on understanding the details of a game. Like sometimes you need to go and press, even when you feel uncomfortable, and the benefit of that might be seen in five or 10 minutes time.

I think the squad that he has and the position that they're in is a new one to the vast majority of them. As a consequence, they're still learning as they're going through it, so I think they'll be better for these experiences in the future.

They will just hope that the future for them is going to be really positive in the coming weeks as opposed to in the coming seasons.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

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Coming into this matchday, only Manchester City (289) have forced more high turnovers in the Premier League this season than Bournemouth (287), with a league-high 61 of the Cherries' high turnovers ending in a shot.

Andoni Iraola's side have also faced the fewest shots following high turnovers in the competition this term (26).

Mark Mitchener
BBC Sport senior journalist

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Bournemouth were able to ride the wave of their injury problems over the winter months. January's back-to-back wins over Newcastle (4-1) and Nottingham Forest (5-0), with a heavily depleted squad and no senior strikers available, will live long in the memory.

However, as March becomes April, Andoni Iraola's side are feeling the squeeze in other areas.

Despite Saturday's draw at West Ham extending their unusual sequence of four successive 2-2 draws at away games in London, the Cherries have only taken two points from a possible 18 in their last six Premier League games.

In the centre of the park, Justin Kluivert has missed the last two games with a muscle injury, while Ryan Christie has been playing through the pain of a groin problem for some time.

Christie posted "Time to heal" on social media earlier this week, and on Wednesday the club confirmed what many had suspected, that the Scotland international has now had surgery which will end his season.

Kluivert and Christie have been integral to Iraola's high-energy, high-pressing system, and their work rate is not easily replaced.

However, the return to fitness of Adam Smith and Julian Araujo to cover the right-back position will allow Lewis Cook – who had deputised at full-back for most of the winter – to return to his natural central midfield role alongside Tyler Adams.

And as fan writer Tom Jordan pointed out on this page yesterday, it also presents England Under-21 international Alex Scott with an opportunity to force his way into the side.

Another encouraging sign at West Ham was the performance of academy midfielder Ben Winterburn, introduced off the bench in the 78th minute for the longest of his three league appearances.

The Hampshire-born 20-year-old, who joined the Cherries as an under-11, caught the eye with the levels of energy an Iraola team requires, and won the free-kick from which Bournemouth equalised.

He can expect more minutes before the end of the season.

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Bournemouth have confirmed Ryan Christie has undergone "successful surgery" after a groin injury he has been monitoring.

The club said he was assessed after coming off during the game against Ipswich.

Christie said on social media it is "time to heal".

In a statement the club said: "It was decided that surgery would be the best course of action for Ryan's recovery and he will return to the club's Performance Centre to begin a process of rehabilitation."

Bournemouth's hopes of European qualification have been dented in recent weeks with an inconsistent run of Premier League form and the club's exit from the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage.

But Cherries fans, you know your club best and we want you to tell us one thing - good or bad - that nobody is currently talking about at Bournemouth.

Let us know your thoughts here

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

West Ham manager Graham Potter was continuously standing on the edge of his technical area, arms folded and observing the game for the most part, while two members of his staff - assistant manager Bruno and first-team coach Narcis Pelach - were up and down from the bench.

It was the coaches who interacted with the fourth official rather than the manager, and calling subs over from their warm-up. Pelach was usually alongside Potter when West Ham had an attacking free-kick.

Potter and Bruno were often in conversation after key moments and before any tactical changes.

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was much more excitable - almost on the pitch as he issued instructions to his players.

This was particularly prevalent early on, though in the second half he spent more time on the bench conversing with staff as the flow of the game changed. He would also take a much more direct role in interacting with his players - both on the pitch and with the subs - than Potter.

See what all the other managers did