{"id":171796,"date":"2025-12-02T22:44:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171796\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T22:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:44:06","slug":"jack-grealish-cashes-in-on-stroke-of-fortune-as-everton-sink-bournemouth-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171796\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Grealish cashes in on stroke of fortune as Everton sink Bournemouth | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another game to show off the concertinaed qualities of this season\u2019s Premier League<\/a>. If anyone can beat anyone, they can also play out landlocked contests like this. It took a deflection to win it, Jack Grealish\u2019s shot smashing off Bafod\u00e9 Diakit\u00e9\u2019s shins and into the corner. Two clubs from the mid-table blob that stretches from seventh to 15th fought and ran hard, effort never in short supply. The same could not be said of quality, entertainment and chance creation.<\/p>\n

For Bournemouth<\/a> winless in November, losing from a two-goal winning position at Sunderland was a low point in a season that began with high promise. Such concerns continued, the former flavour of the month is fading. Inconsistencies that denied the team European qualification last season have returned. Everton followers might sympathise, last Monday\u2019s Old Trafford win followed by disaster against Newcastle. Winning at a stadium where they had never won a Premier League game after being the better team in the second half sets them up far better for the festive grind that awaits both teams.<\/p>\n

Everton\u2019s thin squad, soon to be without Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye for AfCon duty, were missing the former from midfield through suspension, and Michael Keane from defence. With Jake O\u2019Brien moved to centre-back, James Garner was emergency right-back.<\/p>\n

In this season of set-piece dominance, fielding the maverick tendencies of Charly Alcaraz alongside Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, evidenced David Moyes\u2019 return to School of Science values, Everton\u2019s manager always proudly anti-fashion. With Alex Scott pulling strings in Bournemouth\u2019s midfield, the promise of a football contest rather than modish rugby-esque fare.<\/p>\n

It represented no guarantee of excitement. A turgid first half followed. And Everton\u2019s first glimpse of goal still came from Vitaliy Mykolenko\u2019s long throw. The visitors dominated possession early on, Bournemouth unusually passive. Andoni Iraola had made four changes from Sunderland, and his unfamiliar team\u2019s first chance also came from a set piece, Antoine Semenyo forcing a save from Jordan Pickford.<\/p>\n

Jack Grealish\u2019s deflected shot settled the match. Photograph: Sean Ryan\/IPS\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

A chilly evening air, the Vitality strangely devoid of crowd noise, was filled with the sounds of Iraola and Moyes\u2019s exhortations; Alcaraz in particular had his manager on his case, the Argentinian asked to chase every last cause. Semenyo, on the left, with Adrien Truffert overlapping beyond him, pushed at the perceived weakness of Garner to little avail while Grealish drifted centrally in search of involvement.<\/p>\n

Everton\u2019s most sustained danger came from a series of corners, the ball twice rebounding from a post amid six-yard box melees. All very messy and Garner\u2019s hoik into the Dorset skies was fully in keeping with a half that ended Junior Kroupi being ruled offside when he had the ball in the net.<\/p>\n

The set-piece salvos continued beyond the break. Everton\u2019s Thierno Barry, barrelling through, never quite in control, was sent away to notch his first shot on target of the season; it was still unconvincing. If Everton seemed likelier, they continued to be scrappy, with Grealish, his form lately slumped, struggling to recreate his inspirational early appearances. Barry\u2019s wild thrash of a Garner pass into the car park was met with affectionate cheers from away fans who appreciate the striker\u2019s endeavour if not his precision.<\/p>\n

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Iraola had removed the ineffective Kroupi and Amine Adli, for senior replacements in Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier and a measure of improvement resulted, with Veljko Milosavljevic, the teenage defensive tower, nodding over.<\/p>\n

The contest at long last opening up granted Everton their chance to counter. Grealish, after Alcaraz had followed his manager\u2019s instructions to hunt down loose balls, was aiming for the opposite post and Djordje Petrovic was left helpless, fine margins and fortune seizing the three points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another game to show off the concertinaed qualities of this season\u2019s Premier League. If anyone can beat anyone,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-171796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}