Boro slides towards drop after Cherries thrashing
Bournemouth took a major step toward safety as it sent 10-man Middlesbrough further towards relegation with a 4-0 win at Vitality Stadium.
Joshua King, Benik Afobe, Marc Pugh and Charlie Daniels helped Bournemouth to a resounding 4-0 win over sorry 10-man Middlesbrough, whose battle against relegation looks doomed to failure.
King handed his side an early lead at Vitality Stadium with his 11th Premier League goal of 2017, before Afobe made the most of some good fortune to make it two after just 16 minutes.
Gaston Ramirez's 20th-minute dismissal after two yellows effectively ended the away side's hopes of getting anything from the game, with Pugh and Daniels pouring even more salt in its wounds after the interval.
Eddie Howe's side looks all-but safe after Sunday's (AEST) victory, climbing to 12th place in the Premier League table with four games left, a comfortable seven points clear of 18th-placed Swansea City.
Boro, meanwhile, faces an enormous task to prevent an immediate drop back to the Championship after extending its winless streak in the league to 16 games, its most recent victory coming against Swansea in December.
It remains 19th on the table on 24 points from 33 games, nine points behind Hull City in 17th place, and has games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool still to come.
