Full Time
Bournemouth won 2-1 at Portman Road, with Evanilson scoring inside five minutes after Ipswich keeper Christian Walton tried to dribble round him and lost the ball. That's Evanilson's fifth Premier League game in a row with a goal, a Bournemouth first. Ryan Christie's shot took a deflection off Leif Davis early in the second half to make it 2-0, and Jack Clarke pulled one back from the penalty spot on 73 minutes, but Ipswich never quite recovered from the two early-half errors. It's an eighth straight win in all competitions for the Cherries, who are a tidy side right now; Ipswich are winless in five and stuck in the bottom half as Matchweek 10 closes.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Ipswich are 16th on 8 points, level with Sunderland and Crystal Palace, and only one point above the bottom three. Lose at home to Bournemouth and the mood around Portman Road gets properly twitchy. Bournemouth are 10th on 12 points, so a win would move them within touching distance of the top half's more comfortable end of the table.
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2These two have a short but lively recent history, with Ipswich's last spell in the top flight giving Portman Road plenty of practice at being awkward for visitors. Nobody should pretend there's a deep rivalry here, though. It's two south-coast-and-Suffolk sides with no real grudge, just three points that both badly want.
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3Watch Eli Junior Kroupi, Bournemouth's young forward, who is easing back from injury. Manager Marco Rose has said he will get minutes but isn't ready to start, so expect a cameo rather than a full shift. He's also been linked with Arsenal, which is the sort of thing that makes people pay attention to a substitute.
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4The subplot is Bournemouth's midfielder Alex Scott, who is reportedly attracting interest from Liverpool and Chelsea, and is still not quite 100 per cent fit. A player being talked about by two giants while sat on the treatment table is a slightly odd place to be. Ipswich, meanwhile, are hoping for Sasa Lukic to be back after training all week.
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5The hook is that Ipswich have yet to keep a clean sheet this season, having shipped 19 goals in nine games. Bournemouth have scored 13, which is not a scary number, but it is more than enough against a defence leaking like this one. If Ipswich do hold out for 90 minutes without conceding, it's genuinely news.
Team Talking Points
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1Ipswich lost 2-1 at home to Bournemouth on Sunday, so they go into the break 14th and without a league win in five games. Bournemouth are flying, with eight straight wins, so it's not exactly a shameful defeat. Still, a five-game winless run is the kind of stat Ipswich fans are counting.
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2The opener came after just five minutes, when Evanilson dispossessed keeper Christian Walton and finished with a no-look effort. It made him the first Bournemouth player ever to score in five Premier League games in a row. Unfortunately for Ipswich, they became a footnote in someone else's record.
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3The second goal was cruel. Ryan Christie's shot deflected in off Leif Davis for an own goal. Jack Clarke pulled one back from the penalty spot, but Ipswich couldn't find an equaliser.
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4Gary O'Neil is the man in charge now, after spells at Bournemouth and Wolves. Under him Ipswich have a stubborn streak: they have the best record in the league for winning back points from losing positions. Mention that and you'll sound like you've done your homework.
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5Before Bournemouth came a 2-2 draw at fellow promoted side Hull, a properly chaotic end-to-end game. Ipswich are safely clear of the bottom three for now. The aim this time is to avoid going straight back down, which is what happened after their last Premier League visit in 2024-25.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Ipswich never know when they're beaten, which is great, but they could do with not going behind quite so often.
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Avoid saying
"Ipswich are just here for one season again" — they've heard it every week since promotion, they're sitting comfortably mid-table, and they'd quite like you to look at the actual league table.
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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.