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Bournemouth beat Leeds United 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium in Matchweek 9, a third straight league win and six on the spin in all competitions. Evanilson scored the opener after 31 minutes, pouncing when Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford gave the ball away from a short goal-kick and Justin Kluivert set him up. Amine Adli sealed it in the fourth minute of stoppage time, and Leeds managed just one shot on target all afternoon, also having a Dominic Calvert-Lewin goal ruled out for handball. That takes Bournemouth to 12 points and 9th on the current table, while Leeds stay on 9 points in 12th.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Both clubs go into Matchweek 9 on 9 points from 8 games, so this is a proper mid-table coin toss. Win and you can start looking up the table; lose and you spend the international break glancing nervously at the clubs below. Leeds have drawn six of their eight, which is either admirable resilience or an inability to close the deal, depending on your mood.
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2The last time these two met at Elland Road in September 2025, it finished 2-2, and they were back at it at the Vitality in April 2026. Leeds' last win over Bournemouth was a 3-1 Championship victory back in 2014, so the Yorkshire side have some history to shake off. Bring that up if your mate is a Leeds fan and you want to be mildly annoying.
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3Player to watch is Evanilson, who has reportedly scored four goals in his last five games. If Bournemouth keep him fed, he's the sort of striker who makes a quiet afternoon suddenly very loud. At the other end, Leeds will look to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has a habit of turning up with a penalty when the team needs one.
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4Team news is the story. Bournemouth are without Alex Scott, Alex Toth and Julian Araujo (all thigh problems), with Veljko Milosavljevic a doubt with a knee issue. Leeds are missing Mateo Joseph and Joe Rodon, Anton Stach is a doubt with a foot problem, and Nico Elvedi has recovered from illness. Check the team sheets before you say anything confident.
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5The hook: Bournemouth are reportedly on a six-game winning run in all competitions, having kept a clean sheet in their recent wins and not conceded in a streak that includes a 3-0 League Cup win over Aston Villa. A third straight league win without conceding would be a first for the club. Leeds, meanwhile, haven't won in their last four league games, so something has to give.
Team Talking Points
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1Bournemouth are the form team nobody's talking about: last weekend's 2-1 win at Ipswich made it eight wins in a row in all competitions. Even better, it's four straight league wins – something they hadn't managed in a single season since December 2023.
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2It's a proper turnaround story. Marco Rose's side didn't win any of their first six Premier League games (three draws, three defeats), and now they're up to seventh on 15 points, just three behind the top four. Drop 'they were winless after six games, you know' and watch people do the maths.
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3Striker Evanilson is red hot. He scored inside five minutes at Ipswich after nicking the ball off the goalkeeper and rolling it into an empty net, and that's now five Premier League games in a row with a goal – the first Bournemouth player ever to do that.
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4The bigger clubs are circling. Arsenal are reportedly keen on young forward Eli Junior Kroupi, although the word is Bournemouth have no intention of letting him go before the summer. It's the price of being good at spotting talent – everyone else eventually notices.
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5There's an England angle too: defender James Hill was called up to the senior squad this week as cover after Ezri Konsa dropped out of training. Not bad for a club whose matchday squad still costs a fraction of the Premier League's big spenders.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eight wins on the bounce and Evanilson can't stop scoring – Bournemouth have gone from 'winless after six' to sniffing round the top four in about six weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Bournemouth are just a nice little seaside club" – they've won eight straight and are three points off the Champions League places. Patronise them now and you'll look daft by Christmas.
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1Leeds beat Tottenham 1-0 at Elland Road on Saturday thanks to Noah Okafor. He came off the bench and scored with his first touch in the 79th minute. Few things make a manager look cleverer than a substitute scoring within two minutes of coming on.
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2The win ended a five-match winless run in the league and stopped a resurgent Spurs side in their tracks. Leeds also had much the better of the chances. Leeds fans will point out it was no smash-and-grab.
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3It wasn't without controversy. Spurs were furious Leeds weren't reduced to ten men, and VAR got plenty of airtime afterwards. Leeds fans will tell you it all evens out over a season. Spurs fans will not.
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4Daniel Farke has Leeds eighth, just two points off a European place. For a club that has spent much of the last few years bouncing between divisions, that's very welcome stability. Mention Europe casually and watch a Leeds fan try very hard not to get excited.
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5Small worry over the break: Leeds midfielder Gudmundsson picked up some hamstring tightness on Sweden duty. Sweden boss Graham Potter says it isn't serious and he should be back on the pitch within days. That's the sort of detail that makes you sound properly plugged in.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eighth and two points off Europe, and Okafor only needed one touch to beat Spurs. Farke's got Leeds looking like a proper Premier League side again.
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Avoid saying
"Leeds are a yo-yo club" — technically defensible over the last decade, but saying it while they're eighth and eyeing Europe is the quickest way to get a lecture about Don Revie.