AFC Bournemouth sit fourth in the Premier League and owe much of that to the sparkling form of Antoine Semenyo. Oliver Hopkins of Opta Analyst dives into the data that puts the Ghanaian among the league’s elite.
Is there a Premier League player more important to their team than Antoine Semenyo is to Bournemouth right now? The Ghanaian forward has been on the steady ascent to stardom for a few seasons now, but 2025/26 definitely feels like the campaign he has truly stepped into the Premier League’s elite.
His numbers and influence for a Bournemouth side punching above their weight are obvious. Heading into the October international break, Andoni Iraola’s side sit fourth in the Premier League amid their best start to a top-flight campaign.
Iraola has transformed them into a side capable of beating anyone on their day.
And at the heart of their brilliant start is their talismanic winger, Semenyo, the player who encapsulates their fast, fearless, counter-attacking identity.
Semenyo has already scored six times and registered a further three assists this season. Bournemouth have scored 11 goals overall, meaning their star man has been involved in 81.8 per cent of them.
That is, unsurprisingly, the highest proportion of any player for any team this season.
Highest percentage of involvement in team's goals 25/26
| Player | Goals + assists | % team goals |
| Semenyo (BOU) | 9 | 81.8% |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony (BUR) | 5 | 71.4% |
| Haaland (MCI) | 10 | 66.7% |
| Grealish (EVE) | 5 | 50.0% |
| Woltemade (NEW) | 3 | 50.0% |
| Bowen (WHU) | 3 | 50.0% |
| Diouf (WHU) | 3 | 50.0% |
| Thiago (BRE) | 4 | 44.4% |
| Sarr (CRY) | 4 | 44.4% |
| Ndiaye (EVE) | 4 | 44.4% |
After starring in Bournemouth's recent win over Fulham, Semenyo was asked whether he was in the best form of his life. "I'd like to think so," he replied modestly.
We'll say it more definitively: he most certainly is.
Watch Semenyo's best bits this season
This remarkable run of form actually began at the back end of last season. Semenyo scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Fulham in mid-April after a quintessential Bournemouth move.
The Cherries won the ball deep, Alex Scott surged forward through midfield and fed Semenyo on the right. The winger squared up his full-back, feinted one way, cut inside and placed a finish into the far corner.
That moment sparked a run of form that hasn’t stopped. Including that goal, Semenyo has scored 10 of Bournemouth’s last 18 Premier League goals, while assisting four more.
Put another way, across the last seven months of league action, there’s a 77.7 per cent chance that if Bournemouth have scored, Semenyo has been directly involved.
He has 10 goals in that time (level with Erling Haaland for the most of any Premier League player), and his 14 goal involvements over that span is the most in the competition.
Watch tactical analysis of Semenyo
Fittingly, his latest sensational performance came against Fulham once again. His first goal was vintage Semenyo; he glided past two defenders down the left during a slaloming run before slipping a shot through Bernd Leno’s legs from an acute angle.
Semenyo's first goal v Fulham
Antoine Semenyo from the tightest of angles 📐 pic.twitter.com/w4JOqRteoj
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 6, 2025
His second, the goal that made it 3-1, finished off a classic Bournemouth counter-attack. At the time of his team breaking forward, Semenyo started deep inside his own penalty box...
...before a lung-busting sprint up the field was rewarded with a straightforward finish (for a player of his quality, anyway).
What makes Semenyo so lethal in Iraola's system is that he's perfectly suited to the way Bournemouth play. Their philosophy is clear: press aggressively, win the ball back, attack fast. And they are very effective at doing that.
Bournemouth have scored four goals from direct attacks this season. These are effectively counter-attacks and are defined as open-play sequences that start just inside a team’s own half, have at least 50 per cent of movement towards the opposition’s goal and end in a shot or a touch in the opposition's box.
That is the most of any team, while only Liverpool (15) have produced more such attacks ending in a shot.
In possession, Bournemouth hold on to the ball for just 8.7 seconds per sequence and average only 3.3 passes. Looking at the team-style comparison graphic below, with the exception of Crystal Palace, Iraola's side are a stark contrast to the patient build-up of the teams around them in the table.
When Bournemouth do regain possession, they look immediately for Semenyo. He’s received more forward passes (110) and more passes into the final third (41) than any other Bournemouth player.
Semenyo's raw attributes make him perfect at receiving the ball in transition. He's lightning quick, direct and physically dominant.
He's the fastest Bournemouth player in the squad - hitting the fastest top speed (34.2 km/h) this season - while only five players in the league have made more sprints than his 152.
But pure athleticism isn’t what makes him truly elite. It’s what he does when he has the ball that really separates him.
For a start, Semenyo is one of the most two-footed attackers in the Premier League. Of his 17 shots this season, eight have come from his right foot, eight from his left, and there was one header.
His six goals are also split perfectly; three with his right, three with his left.
That symmetry makes him unpredictable, as he's able to drive to the byline or cut inside with equal ease. His first goal against Fulham in Matchweek 7 perfectly demonstrated that ability, while Semenyo's comfort with both feet has enabled Iraola to use him on either wing, depending on the opponent.
He’s also Bournemouth’s most dangerous ball-carrier. Two of his six goals and two of his three assists this season have come after carries of five metres or more, and he leads the team for the average length of his ball carries (13.7m).
Semenyo's ability to glide past defenders while maintaining control makes him one of the Premier League’s most efficient transitional threats.
Manchester United, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have all been linked with a move for him, but Semenyo signed a new five-year deal with Bournemouth over the summer to quash those rumours, at least in the short term.
The reality is, however, that if he continues performing like this, holding on to him beyond this season will be a big challenge for Bournemouth.
In an interview ahead of the recent encounter with Fulham, Iraola spoke proudly about Semenyo's form.
"Antoine has improved every season, even before I came here. We have to encourage him to keep growing. I try to make him not look too much into the numbers…if we are playing well collectively, the numbers will arrive," he said.
It’s a good thing, then, that while Semenyo might not be looking at the numbers, we absolutely are.
And they support the story that our eyes can clearly see: that Antoine Semenyo is Bournemouth’s best player, and that right now, he might just be the best player in the Premier League.