London: Bournemouth breathed life into its Premier League survival bid on Sunday, coming from a goal down to beat fourth-placed Leicester City 4-1 for its first win in 10 games.
Leicester was in command after Jamie Vardy’s scrappy first-half goal. But with the relegation trapdoor creaking underneath its feet, Bournemouth turned the match around in stunning fashion with Dominic Solanke scoring twice.
Junior Stanislas equalised from the penalty spot in the 66th minute after a mistake by Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel, who was at fault again one minute later when he allowed Solanke’s shot to trickle over the line.
To make matters worse for the Foxes, defender Caglar Soyuncu was shown a straight red card after tangling with Callum Wilson immediately after Bournemouth’s goal.
Leicester then collapsed in alarming fashion. Stanislas’s shot in the 83rd minute went in off Leicester defender Jonny Evans before Solanke seized on more dreadful defending to add his second.
With Aston Villa winning earlier in the day, Bournemouth began the match second from bottom, six points behind fourth-from-bottom Watford.
The victory – its first since Feb. 1 – means that with three games remaining it still has hopes of securing a sixth successive season of top-flight football.
Sevilla beat Mallorca 2-0 in the Spanish league to move within a draw of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Forwards Lucas Ocampos and Youssef En-Nesyri scored a goal in each half to give Sevilla its fourth straight win and leave the team a point away from securing fourth place and a return to Europe’s top club competition.
We knew this was a key match for us, Sevilla midfielder Fernando said. This victory leaves us very close to achieving our goal.
Sevilla made it to the Champions League quarterfinals in 2018 but didn’t qualify for the competition this season. It has played in the Europa League instead, where it will face Roma in the round of 16.
Sevilla, unbeaten since the league resumed following the pandemic break, moved nine points ahead of fifth-place Villarreal, which hosts Real Sociedad on Monday with a chance to get back to within six points with two rounds to go. Villarreal has the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Sevilla.