October 26, (THEWILL) — Bournemouth moved into second place in the English Premier League after beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium.
The victory took the Cherries to 18 points from nine matches, their best start to a top-flight campaign.
Marcus Tavernier opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a goal struck directly from a corner, the first of its kind in the Premier League this season.
Eli Kroupi doubled the lead five minutes before half-time with a long-range strike, his third goal in consecutive appearances. The 18-year-old has now scored four times this term, second only to Eintracht Frankfurt’s Can Uzun among teenagers across Europe’s major leagues.
Forest struggled to create clear chances despite manager Sean Dyche making three substitutions at the interval.
Morgan Gibbs-White forced a save from Djorde Petrovic with a curling effort, but the visitors lacked sharpness in attack throughout. The defeat leaves Forest in 18th position with just five points.
The Cherries overtook Manchester City in the table after Pep Guardiola’s side lost at Aston Villa earlier in the day.
Tavernier became the first Bournemouth player to score directly from a corner in the Premier League since Junior Stanislas achieved the feat nearly a decade ago.
His goal was also the first of its type in the competition since Matheus Cunha netted for Wolves against Manchester United last December.
Forest’s attacking woes have now extended to four consecutive league matches without a goal, their longest barren run since November 1994 when they went five games without scoring.
The club has not found the net for 448 minutes, leaving Dyche with significant work ahead in his new role.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
