Ouattara the hero for Bournemouth as they snatch late win against stuttering Spurs
Following a 15-minute delay to kick-off due to a traffic incident holding up Bournemouth, Spurs showed that they were in no mood to wait around once the action started, scoring an early opener.
Ivan Perisic was well picked out by Clement Lenglet and calmly pulled the ball back for Son Heung-Min to score in back-to-back league games for the first time this season.
Despite the early setback, the visitors kept moving the ball well and got into promising positions, with Marcus Tavernier unleashing a curling strike that Hugo Lloris tipped over the crossbar.
They then carved out an equaliser a mere three minutes after Cristian Stellini was forced into a defensive change due to Lenglet sustaining an injury.
Pedro Porro was dispossessed before Dominic Solanke slipped through Matias Vina, who provided a delightful dink to mark the full-back’s maiden Cherries start with his first goal since May 2021, when he was playing for Palmeiras.
After experiencing such a high, Vina’s afternoon was brought to an abrupt end as he was injured shortly after the restart.
Gary O’Neil’s side avoided any teething problems, instead capitalising when Davinson Sanchez’s tackle on Tavernier poked the ball into Solanke’s path, as the striker conjured the Cherries’ second dinked finish to beat Lloris.
Sanchez was brought off under half an hour after being introduced as Spurs chased an equaliser, although Perisic blazed a wild effort over the crossbar and Oliver Skipp’s venomous attempt was saved.
It was former Cherries talisman Arnaut Danjuma that eventually broke them down, scoring his first league goal for Spurs when he met Richarlison’s header with a clinical finish that gave Neto no hope.
However, Ouattara responded by cutting across Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and provided the coolest of finishes, taking the Cherries for their first back-to-back victories since October 2018 and extending their buffer from the relegation zone to six points.
Meanwhile, Spurs’ five-game unbeaten run across all competitions came to an end as they missed out on an opportunity to end the day in the top four.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth)