Bournemouth up to second as Sean Dyche suffers opening league defeat

By Rachel Steinberg, PA

Sean Dyche’s first Premier League match in charge of Nottingham Forest ended in defeat as Bournemouth climbed to second place in the table with a 2-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.

Forest were hoping to build on momentum from Thursday night’s 2-0 Europa League win over Porto – their first victory across all competitions since August.

Instead, they fell behind when Marcus Tavernier opened the scoring directly from a 25th-minute corner.

Junior Kroupi doubled Bournemouth’s advantage before the break, the fourth goal in the 19-year-old’s last three Cherries appearances.

Both bosses made a single change to their line-ups, Iraola bringing in Veljko Milosavljevic for Bafode Diakite while Dyche was forced to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko with Nicolo Savona as a result of the former picking up an injury in the European win.

Marcus Tavernier tested Matz Sels early on, forcing the Forest keeper into a low, second-minute save. Sels then denied Antoine Semenyo as the Cherries remained on the front foot through the first 15 minutes.

The visitors had barely ventured into Bournemouth’s half when Douglas Luiz and Justin Kluivert got into a heated, physical confrontation in midfield, sparking members of both sides to rush in and calm the situation.

Both players were issued 18th-minute yellow cards, and a second pause was required moments later as referee Sam Barrott once again called for cooler heads.

Forest had registered just one shot – by Neco Williams, and well off target – by the time Tavernier opened the scoring in the 25th minute, whipping his corner beyond the leaping Sels.

The visitors protested, believing it was Tavernier who had last touched the ball before the corner was awarded and that Tyler Adams had fouled Sels in the air, but the officials disagreed and the contest carried on.

Djordje Petrovic was finally called into action from Williams’ effort before Kroupi doubled the Cherries’ advantage, latching onto a loose ball in midfield before beating Sels from 25 yards out and inspiring a chorus of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” directed at the new Forest boss.

Dyche made a triple change, bringing on Taiwo Awoniyi, Omari Hutchinson and Ryan Yates for Igor Jesus, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Luiz as the second half got out to a more even start.

But chances remained scarce until Morgan Gibbs-White forced Petrovic into a diving stop with just over 13 minutes remaining.

Some clever work from David Brooks nearly resulted in a late Bournemouth third, but the 69th-minute substitute’s shot was just wide, and Petrovic stopped a late Awoniyi effort.