Maddison opens Spurs goal account in Bournemouth defeat
James Maddison scored his first Tottenham goal and delivered an outstanding individual performance as Spurs continued their fine start to life under Ange Postecoglou with victory at Bournemouth.
Maddison’s opener came at the end of a flowing Spurs move involving Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr, and arrived just moments after Cherries goalkeeper Neto had kept out another effort from the 26-year-old.
Spurs carved out the better opportunities before half-time but Richarlison – who endured a frustrating afternoon – was unable to open his tally for the season despite finding himself in some excellent goalscoring positions.
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Bournemouth made a bright start to the second half and Antoine Semenyo nearly followed up his goal at Anfield last weekend with a superb second-half equaliser, but the Ghanaian’s curling effort from the edge of the box flew narrowly wide of the top corner.
Young full-back Destiny Udogie was the architect of the visitors’ second, playing an excellent one-two with Heung-min Son before cutting the ball back for Dejan Kulusevski, who found the far corner for his first of the campaign.
Spurs have seven points from their opening three league games, while Bournemouth’s wait for a first win of the season goes on after slipping to a second straight defeat.
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To say Maddison has hit the ground running at Tottenham would be doing the former Leicester man a great disservice.
The England international followed up his two assists in the opening-day draw at Brentford with another influential display in victory over Manchester United, and he was superb once again on the south coast as Spurs continued their unbeaten start.
Bournemouth have shown glimpses of promise under Iraola but victory continues to elude the Cherries, whose start to the campaign is not about to get any easier.
They travel to Brentford in their next league game before taking on Chelsea (h), Brighton (a) and Arsenal (h) later in September.