Promoted AFC Bournemouth announced their arrival in the top flight with a bang after Callum Wilson’s hat-trick sealed their first-ever English Premier League victory in a 4-3 success at West Ham United on Saturday.
Bournemouth, who lost their two opening games 1-0, led 2-0 at halftime thanks to a double from Wilson but West Ham leveled through a Mark Noble penalty and Cheikhou Kouyate goal.
Marc Pugh nudged Bournemouth ahead again before Wilson converted a spot kick, after West Ham defender Carl Jenkinson was dismissed, to complete his treble before Modibo Maiga pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute to set up a tense finish.
Photo: AFP
Tottenham Hotspur ended Leicester City’s perfect start under new manager Claudio Ranieri with a 1-1 draw after the impressive Riyad Mahrez canceled out Dele Alli’s first Spurs goal.
Leciester lead the standings with seven points ahead of Manchester United on goal difference with Manchester City, who were due to visit Everton yesterday, in third on six points.
Champions Chelsea, who have one point from their first two games, were due to travel to West Bromwich Albion yesterday.
Bournemouth had won many plaudits during their opening two defeats and made the perfect start when Wilson volleyed home a superb 11th-minute opener before capitalizing on a defensive error to double the lead 17 minutes later.
The hosts, under new manager Slaven Bilic, roared back after the break with quick fire goals from Noble — who converted a penalty following Josh King’s foul — and Kouyate.
Despite surrendering their commanding lead, Bournemouth remained dangerous every time they pushed forward and regained the advantage when Pugh scored after another impressive attacking move.
Wilson, Bournemouth’s top scorer last season, completed his hat-trick with a 79th-minute penalty after Jenkinson had been sent off for bringing down Max Gradel.
West Ham’s response was emphatic with Maiga surging through the middle to stroke the ball home but Bournemouth held on to send their visiting fans into raptures.
“It was great to get off to a start with three points and I’m delighted for the team,” Wilson told Sky Sports.
“The main thing is the points. We’ve scored a few goals today which gets a bit of confidence in the team. It shows people we can score goals in this league and hopefully we can pick up more points along the way,” Wilson added.
Crystal Palace’s Bakary Sako snatched a late winner as they beat Aston Villa 2-1, while Stoke City, who handed record signing Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri his league debut, drew 1-1 at Norwich City with Russell Martin equalizing for the home side after Mame Biram Diouf headed the visitors in front.
Jermaine Defoe secured Sunderland’s first point of the season with the equalizer in a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea City after Bafetimbi Gomis netted his third league goal in as many matches this season on the stroke of halftime.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS