Bournemouth took a giant stride towards qualifying for Europe for the first time as Rayan’s second-half strike earned a 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage, extending their unbeaten Premier League run to 16 games.
An otherwise unremarkable match took a bizarre turn late in the first half when both teams had a player sent off for violent conduct within minutes of each other. Ryan Christie was first to be dismissed for landing his studs on the ankle of Timothy Castagne. Before Fulham could make their numerical advantage pay, Joachim Andersen launched into a similarly reckless challenge on Adrien Truffert and also saw red.
That opened up an otherwise cagey affair, with neither side initially seizing control in the race for sixth place. Rayan’s fifth goal for Bournemouth, a powerful strike in the 53rd minute, sealed the victory. Andoni Iraola’s side know that wins in their final two games will guarantee at least a place in the Europa League, though if Aston Villa win that competition while finishing fifth, the Cherries could yet qualify for the Champions League.
Josh King came agonisingly close to stealing a point when he cracked the underside of the bar with virtually the final kick, as Fulham’s fading European hopes were all but extinguished.
It took until almost the half-hour mark for either side to threaten, and it was Fulham who ought to have gone ahead. Samuel Chukwueze picked out Castagne with a lovely pass, and his cross was met by Rodrigo Muniz with a thumping header that flashed wide at the foot of the post.
Fulham thought things had tipped decisively their way four minutes before the break. Christie was initially shown a yellow card for landing his studs on Castagne’s ankle, but a pitchside review by referee Andrew Madley made plain the recklessness of the challenge, and Bournemouth were left to play more than half the game with 10 men. From the resulting free-kick, Andersen outleapt everyone to head Harry Wilson’s cross against the bar, before Djordje Petrovic beat away Sasa Lukic’s drive.
The advantage was wiped out before half-time, as with the interval seconds away, Andersen flew with both feet off the ground into a challenge with Truffert and came down hard with his studs on the defender’s ankle. Another VAR review yielded the same outcome.
The second half began at a much faster pace, with more space for either side to exploit. Eli Junior Kroupi almost gave Bournemouth the lead with a curling effort that smacked the bar. It was a warning Fulham would not heed, and a minute later they fell behind when Rayan struck low and hard from 20 yards, a shot that deceived Bernd Leno before dropping into the bottom corner.
Substitute Amine Adli kicked at fresh air with an open goal gaping in stoppage time, then King’s thunderbolt rattled the bar before bouncing onto the goal line as Fulham fell short.
