Bournemouth bring Tottenham back down to earth as Evanilson secures win | OneFootball

Evanilson’s fifth-minute goal earned Bournemouth a deserved 1-0 victory at Tottenham and brought Thomas Frank back down to earth.

Frank had enjoyed an excellent start to life in the Spurs hotseat and followed up last Saturday’s excellent win at Manchester City with the purchase of Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig on Friday.

The Danish coach had won seven of his previous 10 meetings with Bournemouth, including two last season, but watched Tottenham produce a tepid display in his fourth match in charge.

Andoni Iraola’s side should have won by a greater margin, with David Brooks a constant threat and unfortunate not to score as the Cherries made a mockery of a difficult summer of outgoings with an impressive three points in London.

For Spurs, it shows Frank’s squad still needs reinforcements with days of the transfer window left open.

There was a buzz inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before kick-off as the crowd awaited the presentation of new £51.8million signing Simons and a home goal almost followed inside 60 seconds, but Pape Sarr’s shot-cum-cross was blocked by Djordje Petrovic.

It was not a sign of things to come, though, as Bournemouth took a surprise lead after five minutes.

Centre-back Marcos Senesi spotted the clever run of Evanilson, who peeled away from Cristian Romero and had a left-footed shot deflected over Guglielmo Vicario.

Djed Spence, fresh from his maiden England call-up, had been at fault after he played Evanilson onside and the forward dragged another effort wide moments later.

The Cherries remained firmly in the ascendancy as Antoine Semenyo headed over Brooks’ sumptuous cross before the Welsh winger went close with a clever free-kick to the near post, which Vicario scrambled across to save.

An injury to ex-Spurs defender Adam Smith allowed Frank the chance to speak with his players, but the regroup failed as Micky van de Ven was forced to slide in to thwart Marcus Taverner and Evanilson sent another effort wide.

A smattering of boos greeted the half-time whistle and yet the one-way traffic continued after the break as Vicario saved from Semenyo before a crazy passage of play in the 49th minute.

Firstly, Senesi went down inside the area after slight contact by Mohammed Kudus, but play carried on and Vicario dived at the feet of Evanilson and Brooks’ follow-up shot struck the crossbar.

The drama was not over there as Richarlison was hauled down by the already-booked Semenyo moments later, but referee Simon Hooper elected to keep the second yellow in his pocket.

Frank had seen enough and introduced Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert after 54 minutes.

After Tavernier sent a shot into the side-netting, Spurs finally had their first shot on target with 69 minutes played when Bergvall’s left-footed effort from Richarlison’s tee-up was saved by Petrovic.

Left-back Destiny Udogie was the next roll of the dice by Frank and he almost provided an instant impact, but his deflected cross was smashed over from 12 yards by Odobert.

The pressure was finally being piled on, but Petrovic claimed a difficult cross before Mathys Tel sent a sweet volley wide from 20 yards in the first of seven minutes of added time.

One final free-kick offered Tottenham the chance to salvage an undeserved point, but Udogie headed wide to consign Frank to his first league defeat in charge.