Semenyo stars again as Bournemouth beats Brighton
Antoine Semenyo's sensational start to the Premier League season continued as his goal and assist helped Bournemouth beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1 at Vitality Stadium.
Semenyo had three goal contributions in three games to start the campaign, and he was involved once again here to help the Cherries to their third consecutive league win.
Bournemouth's strong start was rewarded in the 18th minute by Alex Scott, who rifled an effort past Bart Verbruggen after good work from Semenyo on the edge of the box.
The Cherries continued to press on after taking the lead, with Evanilson looping a header over the crossbar before Semenyo's strike whistled just wide of the right-hand post.
Brighton improved as the half wore on and manufactured its best chance four minutes before the break, but Djordje Petrovic was equal to Yankuba Minteh's near-post shot.
The Seagulls hit back three minutes into the second half through Kaoru Mitoma, who nodded Yankuba Minteh's cross to the back post home from a tight angle.
However, the Cherries restored their lead just after the hour when Jan Paul van Hecke tripped Evanilson inside the box, allowing Semenyo to dispatch the resulting penalty.
Bournemouth's victory propelled it up to third in the early-season standings, while Brighton's indifferent start to the campaign leaves it down in 12th.
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola insisted after the game that his team still needs to improve in a number of areas if it is to achieve its aims for the rest of the season, and emphasised the need to keep its feet firmly on the ground.
"It’s a good start," he said.
"It’s a good amount of points but we still have our moments and we will make mistakes. Everyone is getting more minutes, but every game is costing us a lot.
"We are managing well but if we don't keep the focus these small details can go the other way. We have to stay humble."
The Spaniard was also delighted with the impact of new signings Veljko Milosavljevic and Alex Jimenez, who made their Bournemouth debuts.
He added: "I am happy for the two players who made their debut [Milosavljevic and Jiminez]. It’s difficult to play the first game against Brighton and they did very well.
"It was a difficult position [for Milosavljevic] because we like what we saw but he has played with us just three days. He has the rhythm and he comes in good form. Everything went well with him."
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was adamant that his side deserved more from the game, despite mustering just two shots on target overall.
He said: "The performance was quite good, we dominated the game, we had chances, we just made the wrong decisions.
"The small margins made the difference and we weren't at the highest level."
Brighton was not helped by first-half injuries to Jack Hinshelwood and Maxime De Cuyper.
When asked whether Hinshelwood’s injury was a serious one, Hurzeler said: "I think it is. I'm not a doctor so we have to wait for the scan. We faced a lot of adversity today."
