The Premier League witnessed its biggest comeback win in more than 20 years as Bournemouth defeated Luton Town 4-3.
Far away from the television cameras and the drama in Madrid and Dortmund, Bournemouth and Luton Town played out one of the most extraordinary Premier League matches of this or any recent season.
Bournemouth were able to do a comeback that would be talked about for the ages as they won 4-3, having been three goals down at half time.
Former Liverpool man, Dominic Solanke’s exquisite turn and finish started the comeback five minutes after the half-time break, and after Illia Zabarnyi bundled in a header for 2-3. Antoine Semenyo completed the comeback with a pair of powerful finishes – the second with only six minutes remaining.
Semenyo, while speaking to newsmen after the game, said “It’s unreal. It is an achievement of mine just playing in the Premier League so to get a winning goal for the team, I’m buzzing.”
This victory meant that Bournemouth became only the fifth team in Premier League history to win a match in which they trailed by three goals, and just the third to do so in a game where they were 3-0 down at half-time.
The only others to achieve this feat were Manchester United in beating Spurs 5-3 in September 2001 and Wolves v Leicester in October 2003.
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Semenyo further added that there was no half-time talk from Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola, at half-time.
In fact, he seemed to say very little to his team, as the Cherries were out for the second half early.
The forward said they were out so early that in fact it caught him off guard:
“I was on the bike actually when everyone was running out so I had to scurry out quickly. It was because we were ready to go and put a performance on for the fans and for ourselves.”
Semenyo also made comments about Iraola, saying, he “is very calm and collected.
“He just came in and said, ‘Look we are going to have to go for it, go man for man and show some personality’, and we did that.”
More importantly for Iraola’s side than any impressive Premier League record, this result surely confirms their status as a top flight team for another season.
Bournemouth, with 10 matches remaining, are 14 points above the relegation zone – their points total puts them closer to the top six than the bottom three.
Iraola, while speaking after the game, said, “Everything went for Luton in the first half, they were really clinical, every time they arrived [in the box] they scored.
“We needed something to happen early in the second half, the first goal from Dom [Solanke] was key. Then everyone started believing, we kept putting up the pressure and in the end we came back“.
For Luton, this was another heartbreaking tale in a season where they have won the admiration of many neutral fans.
But they would now need more things to go there way if they are to remain playing English top flight football. With just 10 matches remaining, they need significantly more than goodwill and hard luck.
