Bournemouth make unwanted Premier League history in unprecedented start

Bournemouth made a piece of unwanted Premier League history in their 2-2 draw at Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime.

The Cherries silenced St James’ Park with just nine minutes on the clock when Marcus Tavernier tapped home from close range.

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And they were given a helping hand ten minutes before the interval thanks to a bizarre own goal from Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw.

Harvey Barnes’ superb curling effort reduced the arrears two minutes later before Jacob Ramsey rescued a point for the Magpies late on.

But Bournemouth’s inability to hold on to their lead means they have become the first team ever to score first in all three opening Premier League fixtures and fail to win any of them.

Marco Rose’s side raced into a 1-0 lead at Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season only to end up losing 2-1 thanks to Josko Gvardiol’s late winner.

Last weekend, Alex Scott fired the Cherries into the lead at home to Everton but they were pegged back in added time by James Tarkowski’s leveller.

The 2-2 draw at Newcastle means Bournemouth have picked up just two points despite being in a strong position to pick up maximum points from all three games.

And since the start of last season, Bournemouth have dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Premier League (29 – level with Newcastle), and the most of any team in away matches (18).

Bournemouth were heading into the final ten minutes of each Premier League match only to see victory slip between their fingers on each occasion.

It is a concern that Rose will need to address to ensure his side climb the table in the coming weeks.

What was Rose’s take on his side’s latest draw?

Asked about his side’s late defensive frailties, the Bournemouth boss said: “I try my best. Even the lads. It’s not with intention to do it. 

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“Sometimes you have phases where things like these happen. We should go for our first win in the Premier League to calm down this kind of talk.

“Regarding the points, I am not happy. We just have two now. It’s about results at this level. But performance wise, I see a lot of good things.”

The German tactician went on to laud his side’s first half display but conceded that the performance dropped after the interval.

“It is what it is. We started really well. We played a top first half. Our pressing was impressive,” he added. The opponents had no solutions. We scored two goals and had more chances. Then we conceded pretty much with the first chance for the opponents.

“In the second half, we dropped a bit in everything. Even though we didn’t get real trouble in our box, we conceded again a late goal.

“This is disappointing but I’m really happy with the confidence the lads came here today to take the three points. In the end, we have to work on the things we need to improve. And that’s what we will do in the coming days.

“We knew that it’s going to be intense against Newcastle. We defended Anthony Elanga really well.

“We did all that but in the end, if you are 2-0 up and you have the chance to score a third goal, you should do it or you have to defend your goal better than we did.”