Bournemouth defeat Huddersfield 2 - 1

The Cherries moved up to sixth in the Premier League thanks to early goals from Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser. Manager Eddie Howe hopes Bournemouth’s win over Huddersfield brings their “mojo” back after defeats in their previous four matches.

“A few weeks ago we were playing champagne football but we lost our mojo and hopefully this will bring it back,” said Howe. “We showed resilience and you can see how much the win means to us. It gets us on our feet again and looking forward.”

Bournemouth went ahead after five minutes as Wilson muscled home a powerful header from Fraser’s cross. Wilson returned the favour soon after, slipping in Fraser for a well-worked second.

Huddersfield rallied with Terence Kongolo’s first goal for the club halving the deficit before the interval.

Aaron Mooy shot low into the shins of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from the best chance created during a spell of pressure on the other side of the break, but the Terriers left themselves with too much to do.

Bournemouth’s win lifts them above Leicester, Manchester United and Everton, all of whom play on Wednesday. The hosts’ recent poor results did not reflect the quality of their performances in single-goal defeats by Arsenal, Newcastle and Manchester United, and last weekend’s 3-1 reverse at Manchester City.

Certainly, Huddersfield perched perilously one point above the relegation zone, struggled to contain the intelligent and incisive home attack early on. Wilson, who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last year, found the Terriers defence in accommodating mood once again as he beat the offside trap and buried a header after just five minutes.

Fraser came close to providing a second shortly after, picking out Joshua King in the box, before bursting up the left to supply a side-foot finish to a slide-rule Wilson pass.

It perhaps came a little too easily for the hosts, who slipped deep and switched off early in the second half. An increasingly edgy Vitality Stadium greeted the final whistle with relief.

Huddersfield into double figures at last

Huddersfield manager David Wagner was left ruing his side’s slow start. “The goals we gave away were too easy and the opportunities we missed were presents. It was Christmas for Bournemouth,” said the German in his post-match interview.

Before kick-off, Howe had pinpointed the visitors’ size and strength as a potential danger and ‘Route One’ almost provided a comeback trail for the Terriers.

Huddersfield began the evening as the only team in the top four divisions yet to reach double figures in the goals scored column and, with striker Steve Mounie suspended, their entire three-man defence combined to finally wipe out that statistic.

Kongolo jumped well to direct home a header, ending a passage of penalty area head tennis involving Christopher Schindler and Mathias Jorgensen.

The visitors penned Bournemouth deep and ushered forward more heavy artillery as the second half wore on, but, Mooy’s chance apart, struggled to carve out any clear sights of goal.

To add to their disappointment, substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri suffered a serious looking shoulder injury only three minutes after coming on. It was the 22-year-old’s first Premier League appearance since August.

Man of the match – Nathan Ake (Bournemouth)

‘There is a lot of relief’ – what they said

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: “There is a lot of relief. It wasn’t a vintage performance. At 2-0 you think we can go on but Huddersfield did very well and created chances. We defended heroically.

“Football doesn’t work kindly and credit to Huddersfield. They can feel hard done by.

“The manner of the defensive mentality and will to win when not playing well – we had that to get us over the line.”

Huddersfield manager David Wagner: “We dominated the game in large parts and created chances. I have to say it was a free-kick to us before we conceded the first. But we only have to blame us. We have to make sure defensively in these situations we are more focused. Offensively we need to put our chances away.

“We had enough opportunities to score at least two. We needed to score three or four today. We didn’t take them and that is why we have no rewards.”

Fraser’s record-equalling season – the stats

Bournemouth are unbeaten in seven home matches against Huddersfield in all competitions, winning four and drawing three, since losing 1-0 in League One in August 2007.
Since the start of last season, only Brighton (17) and Watford (16) have lost more away Premier League games than Huddersfield (15).
Huddersfield have won just two of their past 19 Premier League games (drawing six and losing 11).
Kongolo’s goal for Huddersfield was their fourth headed goal in the Premier League this season (4/10) – only Burnley (46%) and Newcastle (55%) have scored a higher percentage of headed goals in the competition this season.
Fraser has provided seven Premier League assists for Bournemouth so far this season – more than any other player has provided for the Cherries in a single Premier League campaign.
Wilson has scored eight Premier League goals in 15 appearances for Bournemouth this season – as many as his managed in 28 games last season.
Wilson has both scored and assisted in three different Premier League games this season (level with Raheem Sterling) – no player has done this on more occasions this season.