King crowns rudderless Swansea another misery
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Joshua King rounded off another miserable day for managerless Swansea yesterday as his goal secured Bournemouth a 3-0 victory over the Premier League tailenders.
King’s goal two minutes from time added to those of England Under-21 striker Benik Afobe and Scottish midfielder Ryan Fraser condemned Swansea-who sacked manager Bob Bradley last Monday-to their eighth defeat in the last 12 matches.
The Swans are a point adrift of Hull-who drew 2-2 with Everton on Friday and four shy of safety. Victory brought Bournemouth their first away win in four matches and came on the eighth anniversary when present manager Eddie Howe took over in a caretaker capacity and with them 91st in the 92 member league.
Now they sit comfortably in mid-table 10 points above the relegation places. Junior Stanislas, one of Bournemouth’s standout players this season, had the Cherries first chance, his dazzling solo run getting him into the box and his audacious chip was just tipped over the bar by Lukasz Fabianski.
Swansea had few chances but Fernando Llorente, all of whose six goals this term have come at home, beat Artur Boruc with a header only for it to clip the post.
However, the hosts morale dipped when a few minutes later Afobe was on hand to knock the ball home after Jordi Amat had come close to scoring an own goal, the ball rebounding off the inside of the post and eagerly snapped up by the Bournemouth striker. Amat’s frustrations boiled over shortly afterwards as his clattering challenge on the impressive Fraser earned him a booking.
Fraser, whose introduction as a substitute engineered their remarkable comeback from 3-1 down to beat Liverpool 4-3 recently, provided the perfect riposte doubling the visitors lead on half-time.
Stanislas was the provider after playing a 1-2 with the outstanding Jack Wilshere. Wilshere, who has flourished during his on loan spell from Arsenal, was at the heart of everything, teeing up Stanislas in the secondhalf, his shot drifting just wide of the post.
The England midfielder then set up Afobe, who should have done better from the edge of the box, his shot ballooning over the bar.
However, Swansea couldn’t muster any sort of fightback and King rubbed in the visitors superiority right at the end with the home fans having been heading for the exits well before then. — AFP