The time when club officials from Madrid, Milan and Munich start scoping logistics for accommodation in the Bournemouth area is delayed for now. Beating Wolves could have taken Andoni Iraola’s team up into fourth but next season’s Champions League remains a dream some way from being realised.
Under a different kind of pressure – expectation – Bournemouth lost to an organised, muscular and determined Wolves, the talismanic Matheus Cunha scoring the winner. Even before Illia Zabarnyi’s disputed red card, the Bournemouth machine had shown defective signs, previous football from the gods deserting them. If officialdom took public blame, Wolves deserved credit. “It affects the game, absolutely,” said Iraola of his defender’s dismissal. “Physically it becomes difficult to keep the quality.”
Since replacing Gary O’Neil in December, Vítor Pereira has added control and defensive rigour. Here were the results of a slow process. The strategy was as simple as averting mistakes and supplying Cunha plenty of the ball but it bore results. “I have seen a lot of teams beaten here,” said Pereira. “We came here with the spirit to get three points.”
As an expectant home crowd urged on a team beaten only by Liverpool since the start of 2025, Wolves were forced to defend deep in the early stages but they also issued warning signs. Nélson Semedo hit a post before Jean-Ricner Bellegarde forced a fine save from Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Iraola appeared to recognise the danger of both Wolves and of his players slackening. José Sá smothered well when Justin Kluivert was sent through but the visitors were otherwise holding their lines tightly, even without Emmanuel Agbadou, the January signing a significant absence.
Then came the flashpoint that tilted the game in Wolves’s favour. Zabarnyi’s tackle took the ball first but also tanked through Rayan Aït-Nouri. A pantomime stand-off had both benches up in arms before Stuart Attwell, the video assistant referee, recommended Michael Salisbury’s initial yellow card be upgraded.
Such is Wolves’s bitter case history with officialdom their fans still led the choruses decrying video protocol. “If there are six angles, instead of showing six, they showed the worst angle,” said Iraola, protesting his Ukrainian defender’s innocence. “And they showed the worst angle in slow motion.”
Bournemouth were discombobulated. Cunha’s predatory finish came after Dean Huijsen and the full-back James Hill, shuffled inwards as an emergency centre-back, both misread a bouncing ball. “We had to be very clever and do what was important to win,” said Cunha. “We had to be kind of lucky because [Zabarnyi] was imprudent with the action but this can happen.”
For Wolves, victory and safety in clear sight. Could they in turn deal with expectation? “The team showed emotional balance,” said Pereira. Iraola improvised with Dango Ouattara, recently star striker, at left wing-back. That allowed Semedo a chance that might have clinched victory, only for Kepa to gratefully accept a poorly hit shot. Marshall Munetsi would miss a better chance.
Ryan Christie, struggling amid Wolves’s midfield blockade, was replaced by Tyler Adams. Iraola then removed Kluivert, so often the leading man in the Cherries’ sweet science. Evanilson, on the bench, was not risked. As Wolves began to play out time, home frustrations increased. David Brooks, another substitute, threw in challenges belying any reputation as the genteel, creative type.
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Meanwhile, Cunha, and half-time arrival Jørgen Strand Larsen were winning fouls and territory, Bournemouth unable to dispossess the Brazilian, so full of confidence after his fourth goal in four matches.
Wolves created much the better chances as full-time and victory arrived. “Three points first, then a pint,” said Pereira, indicating his mode of celebration after the team of the future, as hailed by Pep Guardiola, had fallen to old-fashioned conservatism and perhaps the weight of those expectations.
