Bournemouth match Premier League record in standout season | OneFootball

For a while it felt like Bournemouth might just turn a strong season into something extraordinary, but in the end a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest confirmed a superb finish and a deserved place in the Europa League.

Andoni Iraola’s final game in charge summed up his time at the club: organised, resilient and quietly ambitious. The Spaniard had already confirmed in April that he would leave at the end of the season after three transformative years on the south coast, with Marco Rose lined up to take over.

There was even a brief hope of a Champions League push, but Bournemouth ultimately fell just short. Still, finishing sixth and securing European football is the club’s best-ever Premier League placing and another step forward in their steady rise.

The Cherries’ consistency has been remarkable. They lost just once in 2026, a 3-2 defeat to eventual champions Arsenal, and responded with a club-record unbeaten run that stretched to 18 Premier League matches. That sequence included eight wins and ten draws, with a further FA Cup stalemate against Newcastle extending their unbeaten momentum in all competitions.

That 18th draw also matched a long-standing Premier League record for most draws in a season, equalling Sheffield United and Manchester City (1993/94) and Southampton (1994/95) from the old 42-game era.

Even when things stalled earlier in the campaign, including an 11-game winless run, Bournemouth always found a response. From 15th in January to European qualification in May, it’s been a season built on grit, structure and steady progress under Iraola.