AFC Bournemouth hosted Leicester City on the final day of the 2024/25 Premier League season. The visitor’s fate had already been sealed: an immediate return to the second tier of English football.
For the hosts, history books were being rewritten, record points tally in the top flight of English football had already been broken from last season, along with most wins, most goals, fewest goals conceded, and biggest goal difference.
The only record that couldn’t be beaten was the ninth-place finish achieved by the class of 2016/17 under Eddie Howe. But that record could be equalled with a victory and results elsewhere falling in the Cherries favour…
After the match, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports…
“I’ve really enjoyed it, this season with the team.
“This club has finished with the most goals scored and the least goals conceded.
“To finish the season outside of the top 10 would have been really unfair for us. I am really happy, not only with Antoine but with everyone.”
Man of the match against Leicester City
Semenyo
Semenyo
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Zabarnyi
Zabarnyi
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Senesi
Senesi
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Adams
Adams
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Smith
Smith
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Tavernier
Tavernier
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Someone else
Someone else
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BillyTheKid wrote…
Just got back, and what a great finish to the season.
Winning with two cracking goals from Antoine Semenyo.
Finishing in 9th place which equals our highest ever finish, but this was with 10 points more as well.
Broke the club points record under Andoni Iraola last season with 48 points.
But this season he has gone one better and smashed that, gaining
8 points more.
I know it’s been said many times, but I really do hope that Andoni stays at our club after next season. he has given us some of the best football seen at Dean Court in my 68 years supporting this club.
It’s been exciting to watch, let’s hope our club go that bit further next season and bring European competitive football to our club for the first time in our history.
hba1 said…
As Billy said a record-breaking season. A nice little 2-0 canter to see the season out despite stretched resources.
Also, credit to the club for the well-organised shirt presentation post-match, the players’ awards (Deano is good at everything he does), and the amble around the pitch. After Eddie, I never thought I would love another manager, but I echo Billy’s sentiments I really hope Andoni stays a bit longer after next season.
Ice8cold said…
Great result – was a pretty frustrating first 70 minutes as we couldn’t find the cutting edge, but we worked hard for it and got what we deserved. Delighted.
We were in control of the game and easily the better tea,m but I must say Leicester may have been the worst Prem team I’ve seen AFCB play this season. Southampton wasn’t even as bad as them! Ruud Van Nistelrooy was super quiet in the dugout as if he had basically given up on his team.
Sad to see this was Huijsen’s last game, and probably a couple other,s including Kerkez as they were both excellent and have been so all season.
Great season, our focus is on BACKING Iraola and getting the right recruitment for next season, which as always is critical. I anticipate a very busy summer.
UTCIAD!
thegazzyb posted…
First of all, it was great to see us end a PL season at home at last !!!
The icing on the cake was that it coincided with our best season ever, so there was plenty for the home fans to celebrate with the players and staff!
Fortunately, other results went our way, enabling us to equal our best-ever PL finish, which was what I felt this season’s performances deserved. Many more points this time too, of course.
It was great to see the lads clearly wanting to win that game, even though there were only three points to play for and nothing else. You couldn’t fault our effort and it was clear that AI had the players motivated to finish the season on a high and they totally bought into that and gave the game their all.
Another 9 million or so in the bank for the club as well!
Standouts for me were Tav ( who had been pretty poor since he came back ), who looked back to his old self and Brooks, who I thought had an excellent game. He seemed to be oozing confidence yesterday, although that might have been down to the quality of the opposition. Against better team, he has been a bit ponderous on the ball at times and consequently less successful. But he worked hard, got stuck in, played some lovely passes and had some chances of his own. Against Leicester at least, he looked like he belonged in our team.
Lovely for Deano to get a little farewell cameo at the end and on DAZN I got to see a fair few minutes of the after-match celebrations, which was nice.
A great way to end our best season ever and I wish I could have been there to thank Andoni and the players in person. They gave it their all from beginning to end, never gave up, never let their heads drop and just kept on fighting.
This season may have fallen just short of our wildest dreams but it was no doubt great preparation and learning for us to have an even better season next season.
And now for a long summer of wild transfer speculation……. – To join the conversation, please click here.