When was the last time the English Premier League was so unpredictable?
Liverpool drew twice in the last two matches and lost the opportunity to break away from the pursuers, Nottingham Forest returned to the top 4, and Manchester United, despite the victory over City in the Manchester derby, is still 13th.
Despite the incredible density in the championship standings (only 3 points separate the sixth and thirteenth places), Bournemouth looks like a pleasant surprise, having already jumped into the European cup zone and whose football inspires English fans.
Bournemouth is no coincidence 6th in the Premier League – Arsenal and City won, the coach’s Spanish method helps Even under Eddie Howe, Bournemouth repeatedly attracted attention with both spectacular football and quite good results (for example, 9th place in the 2016/17 season), but after the arrival of Spaniard Andoni Iraola as head coach of the team in the summer of 2023, the “cherries” became “a completely different team”.
It was Iraola who called his Bournemouth “a completely different team” because he tried to implement Spanish coaching methods in the most physically difficult league in the world. And how much criticism did Andoni listen to last fall…
After nine rounds of the Premier League, the team had 0 wins and only 3 points – British journalists have already begun to dismiss Iraola.
Everything turned upside down in November and December 2023, during which Bournemouth went on a 7-match unbeaten run (6 wins, 1 draw), including a 3-0 defeat of Manchester United at Old Trafford. Iraola and his coaching methods were trusted, talk of resignation died down, and the Spaniard was finally given a chance to set things right without too much fuss.
The Cherries eventually finished the 2023/24 season in 12th place – above Fulham, Wolverhampton and Brentford.
During the summer pre-season training, Iraola continued to work on implementing the philosophy of the Spanish coaching school in the team – and in the new campaign it is already showing its results:
Of course, Bournemouth does not win every match, but, taking into account the club’s resources and other various circumstances, 25 points after 16 matches (the same as, for example, Aston Villa) is an excellent result for a team that many English fans do not consider to be even the average of the league.
Iraola’s team made people talk about themselves primarily after home victories over Arsenal and Man City this season. Most importantly, these victories were not accidental.
Just remember the corner kick played in a futsal style in the match with the Gunners, when Ryan Christie opened the scoring in the 70th minute of the meeting. Or the fantastic moment in the match with the “citizens”, when “Bournemouth” almost made the score 3:0 in the match with the then undefeated “Man City”.
Yes, it was “Bournemouth” that started the unsuccessful series of Pep Guardiola’s team in the Premier League.
Do you still think that “Arsenal” goal from a corner is a coincidence? Not at all. Here is such a witty play that led to the goal of “Brentford”:
Zabarny – the cherry on this cherry cake. The most expensive player of the team and the hope of updating the transfer record Who would have believed almost 2 years ago that Ilya Zabarny would move to the club where he would soon become one of the most desirable center-backs in the Premier League? Today it is a reality – Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG are already interested in the Ukrainian.
Whatever the future holds for Zabarny, today he is a real top player whose game Bournemouth fans continue to enjoy.
Recently, the Transfermarkt portal updated the transfer value of Premier League players – and since then Zabarny has become the team’s most expensive player:
Ilya is a real darling at Bournemouth. He is adored by both club employees, strict British journalists and, of course, local fans. Everyone wants this love story to last as long as possible, but at the same time they understand that sooner or later the Ukrainian will still leave the club. Under such circumstances, they have high hopes for Zabarny – they hope that he will become the new most expensive sale in the club’s history.