AFC Bournemouth achieved one of the greatest turnarounds in Premier League history as they battled back from 3-0 down at half-time to beat Luton Town 4-3, stopping their visitors from escaping the relegation zone.
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Tahith Chong, Chiedozie Ogbene and Ross Barkley gave Luton a seemingly unassailable lead at the break, but Dominic Solanke and Ilya Zabarnyi started the second-half comeback, before Antoine Semenyo struck twice to send the home fans into rapture.
It is the first time in 21 years that a Premier League team have come from 3-0 down to win, and only the fifth time it has ever happened in the competition.
Luton appeared to be cruising to a win that would have taken them out of the relegation zone, but instead they remain three points behind Nottingham Forest ahead of a HUGE match between the clubs at Kenilworth Road this Saturday. Bournemouth are now 14 points above the bottom three, in 13th place.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 |
Fulham
FUL
|
35 | -4 | 43 |
| 14 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
35 | -12 | 40 |
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
35 | -11 | 36 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
35 | -8 | 35 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
35 | -20 | 26 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
35 | -29 | 25 |
| 19 |
Burnley
BUR
|
35 | -32 | 24 |
| 20 |
Sheffield Utd
SHU
|
35 | -63 | 16 |
How the match unfolded
This fixture had been abandoned on 16 December in the 59th minute after Luton captain Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch. Lockyer was at the game tonight to meet and thank the medics who saved his life.
In an act of kindness due to the fixture being rearranged, Bournemouth fans raised money and subsidised the travel for Luton’s supporters.
Andoni Iraola made three changes as Alex Scott, Dango Ouattara and Luis Sinisterra started ahead of Marcus Tavernier, Justin Kluivert and Milos Kerkez. Rob Edwards made just one change to his starting XI as Daiki Hashioka replaced Gabriel Osho.
Luton took the lead after just nine minutes through Chong, who got on the end of Jordan Clark’s cross and headed past Neto at close range.
Luton have now scored in 16 consecutive Premier League matches, the second-longest run by a promoted club in the competition’s history after Newcastle United scored in 20 successive matches in 1993/94.
Sinisterra forced two saves from Thomas Kaminski at the other end, but Luton doubled their lead against the run of play just after the half-hour mark as Alfie Doughty got in behind and delivered a low cross to Ogbene, who applied a simple finish at the far post.
It was 3-0 on the stroke of half-time as Luton hit Bournemouth with another counter-attack, this time Barkley finishing the move with a powerful strike for his 50th goal in English football. The Hatters scored with all three of their shots on target in the first half.
Iraola responded with a double change at half-time as Enes Unal and Tavernier replaced Scott and Sinisterra, and his switches quickly paid off.
Bournemouth pulled a goal back within five minutes of the restart after brilliant individual play from Solanke. He showed great strength and skill to shield the ball from Hashioka before flicking the ball past him and chipping the ball over Kaminski.
Chong had the ball in the net for the second time in the match when he got on the end of a rebound after a great save from Neto to deny Carlton Morris, but the forward was in an offside position.
Instead, Zabarnyi scored his first goal for Bournemouth to put Luton under serious pressure. His 62nd-minute header looped into the goal despite a desperate effort from Doughty to try and clear it off the line.
Two minutes later Bournemouth levelled the scores as Semenyo cut inside past Hashioka and smashed the ball in at the near post.
Luton had an incredible chance to retake the lead when Doughty found Morris with a brilliant cross, but the striker’s header was poor and Barkley could not guide the second chance toward the goal either.
That miss was punished in full as Semenyo completed the incredible turnaround in the 84th minute, beating Kaminski with another great strike following a good pass from substitute Unal.
Despite nine minutes of additional time, Luton were unable to find an equaliser as the Cherries completed a famous victory.
Club reports
Bournemouth report | Luton report
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Bournemouth became the fifth team in Premier League history to win a match in which they trailed by three goals, after Leeds United (v Derby in November 1997), Wimbledon (v West Ham in September 1998), Manchester United (v Tottenham in September 2001) and Wolves (v Leicester in October 2003).
Only Arsenal (16) have scored more headed goals in the Premier League this season than Luton (14). Indeed, 34 per cent of the Hatters’ league goals have been headers, the highest share of any team this term.
Dominic Solanke scored his 15th Premier League goal of the season, just the second Bournemouth player to net as many in a single top-flight campaign after Josh King (16 in 2016/17).
Luton remain one of just two teams – along with Sheffield United – yet to keep a clean sheet away from home in the Premier League this season.