Bournemouth join elite Premier League club after astonishing comeback win over Luton
- Bournemouth complete sensational win over struggling Luton Town
- Andoni Iroala's Cherries were 3-0 down at home at half-time
- Four unanswered second half goals sealed incredible win
Bournemouth join elite Premier League club after astonishing comeback win over Luton
Bournemouth pulled off one of the all-time great Premier League comebacks on Wednesday as they came from three goals down to win 4-3 against Luton Town.
The final result leaves the Cherries comfortably in mid-table, sitting in 13th place, having opened the gap down to Luton and the relegation zone up to 14 points with only ten games remaining.
Had Luton held onto their 3-0 lead, they would have leapfrogged Nottingham Forest on goal difference to escape the bottom three. But, as it sits, they still face an immediate return to the Championship alongside Burnley and Sheffield United, both of whom are well adrift.
The Hatters made a dream start on their midweek trip to the south coast, with Tahith Chong breaking the deadlock inside the opening ten minutes. Chiedozie Ogbene doubled the advantage half an hour in, before Ross Barkley got a third in first half stoppage time.
At that stage, it looked as though the game was done and Luton would cruise to victory. But Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth had other ideas and cut into the deficit almost straight after the break.
Dominic Solanke's 15th Premier League goal of the season – the same number as Mohamed Salah and only three fewer than Erling Haaland – offered a glimmer of hope with most of the second half to come. Illya Zabarnyi reduced Luton's lead to just one goal at the hour mark, quickly followed by an equaliser from Antoine Semenyo as momentum firmly swung in favour of the home side.
It was all to play for but Bournemouth looked the more likely to get the next goal and did with just seven minutes of the original 90 left on the clock. Semenyo's second of the night took the roof off the Vitality Stadium, putting the Cherries ahead for the first time. There was no response from Luton.
"[Iraola] just said keep playing the way we are playing, pressing. We will get them, they will make a few mistakes. So we came out early in the second half raring to go, and it speaks for itself," the stunned matchwinner told BBC Sport after the final whistle.
In 32 years of Premier League football, this was just the fifth time that a team trailing by three goals has come back to win…and the first in nearly 21 years since Wolves managed it against Leicester City in October 2003. The others are Manchester United against Tottenham in 2001, Wimbledon against West Ham United in 1998 and Leeds United against Derby County in 1997.
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