Bournemouth’s First Weeks Are Characterised by Departures, Rebuild, and Resilience
Bournemouth’s 2025–26 Premier League campaign has gotten off to a rocky start. There would inevitably be some teething problems as the Cherries attempted to bounce back and begin a new chapter after losing their starting centre back tandem of Ilya Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen, starting left back Milos Kerkez, starting goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, and a vital winger in Dango Ouattara. They had the most difficult opening to start that new era: a trip to Anfield.
Antoine Semenyo scored twice in rapid succession to equalise the game, just as Bournemouth appeared to be headed for a crushing loss. But in the closing minutes, Mohamed Salah and Federico Chiesa would strike to give defending champions Liverpool a 4-2 triumph. After that, Semenyo set up Marcus Tavernier’s first goal in the fourth minute at the Vitality. After halftime, Bournemouth managed to hold on for a 1-0 victory after Toti Gomes was sent off for a last-man tackle.
They stayed on the south coast but were overpowered by a travelling Brentford team who took the lead through Fabio Carvalho before halftime and then doubled it through Igor Thiago to win the EFL Cup 2-0. Marcos Senesi found Evanilson for the first goal in the fifth minute, but Andoni Iraola’s team would bounce back in spectacular fashion. Despite having only 31% of the ball, Bournemouth defended hard and outscored Tottenham in transition, scoring 1.59 goals and 20 shots to Spurs’ 0.19 goals and 5 shots.
Following their 1-0 victory in North London, Bournemouth is now in seventh place, one point behind Chelsea and three behind league leaders Liverpool. They are tied for six points with Sunderland, Everton, Tottenham, and Arsenal. They will try to maintain that on Saturday when they host Brighton, a squad that has already crushed Oxford United 6-0 and defeated Manchester City 2-1 after beginning the season with a draw at Fulham and a loss at Everton.
Iraola has so far chosen a standard, unrotated starting lineup for each of his first three games: Tyler Adams and Alex Scott operate the double pivot, Adam Smith, Bafode Diakite, Senesi, and Adrien Truffert make up the back four, Djordje Petrovic starts in goal, and Semenyo, Tavernier, and David Brooks perform magic up top behind Evanilson.
It’s unclear if Iraola will make any changes or give a starting position to a new attacking arrival like Romain Faivre, Ben Doak, Eli Junior Kroupi, or Amine Adli anytime soon, but it’s unlikely that these changes will occur following a convincing victory against Spurs. However, one thing is certain: this is a changing team. Gordon “Flash Watson to EPL Index,” a former Premier League striker, said, “They’ve had some massive departures.” “They’ve made the necessary investment and assembled a strong team. Ever since Richard Hughes served as their Technical Director, they have had exceptional success with recruitment.
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