AFC Bournemouth 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
AFC Bournemouth
- Attendance:
- 11201
- :
- Craig Pawson
A tight affair at Vitality Stadium as the points are shared.
Both sides created plenty of chances, with Eddie Howe’s men coming out strongly from the start and hitting the woodwork inside the opening five minutes. Though, it was Tottenham who dominated for large parts of the second half, but they couldn’t break down the Cherries defence, having to settle for what was a well-contested draw.
Howe made two changes to the side that emphatically beat Hull last weekend, with Joshua King coming in to replace the injured Junior Stanislas and Dan Gosling starting after Andrew Surman’s illness got the better of him during the warm-up.
The first chance came within the opening two minutes after Jack Wilshere picked up the ball in the heart of midfield and almost fed in Callum Wilson only for Eric Dier to intercept.
However, moments later the Cherries were almost rewarded for their bright start. A Wilshere corner fell to Gosling who was able to square to the in-form Charlie Daniels, producing a fine save from Hugo Lloris who got a touch on his close-range shot which took into onto the bar.
Howe’s side continued to build momentum, with Wilson’s pace causing problems for the Spurs defence and a string of corners piling on the pressure.
Despite a strong 15 minutes from Bournemouth, good work from Dele Alli up the other end of the pitch led to an opening for Erik Lamela, whose shot from 20 yards grazed the crossbar and went behind for a goal-kick.
It was then Tottenham’s turn to attack, with Alli unable to turn on goal just metres out and Christian Eriksen firing a shot marginally wide from the edge of the area.
As the half drew to a close, Wilshere and Wilson were in the thick of it once again, with the Arsenal loanee placing a cross onto the striker’s head, which fortunately for Lloris edged just wide of his post.
Pochettino’s side came out fighting after the break, enjoying good spells of possession in the Cherries’ half before Alli’s thunderbolt from 25 yards had to be parried away by Boruc.
A wonderful tackle from Francis as Lamela looked in on goal kept Spurs at bay before the chance presented itself to the Argentine once again, however his powerful drive blazed straight into the Ted MacDougall Stand.
Opportunities kept on coming for the visitors with Kyle Walker unable to steer his volley on target and Lamela hitting his free-kick straight into the arms of the Cherries keeper.
A change for the visitors saw the introduction of Moussa Sissoko who was almost immediately involved after finding himself in space on the right-wing. His cut back was neatly collected by Rose, but the England international saw his shot stopped at the near-post by the increasingly impressive Boruc.
As the game was entering the dying stages, it looked as though the Cherries may be rewarded for their resilience at the back.
Sissoko could have seen red for an nasty elbow on Arter, which the referee deemed to be accidental – much to the dismay of the home crowd.
And shortly after two penalty shouts came within seconds of each other, with a lunge on Wilshere causing the first appeal and another on substitute Max Gradel forming the second.
Gradel once again caused problems for Pochettino’s side, intercepting a wayward pass and driving towards goal to force a corner, considerably raising the noise level inside Vitality Stadium.
From the resulting set piece, Francis was able to collect the ball after it surpassed everyone, before crossing it back into the box and onto Afobe’s head. However, the effort was just over the bar for what was the final chance of the game.