Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford: four leads, three points

Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford was the fourth league match of the season in which Bournemouth have been in front, and the fourth in which they have failed to turn that into a win. They led 2-1 early in the second half at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, took twenty shots, forced eight saves out of Caoimhín Kelleher, and came away with a point. After four rounds they have three.

Brentford will take the draw and they will also recognise the shape of it. Kevin Schade scored both of their goals, the first to put them ahead and the second four minutes after they had fallen behind, and it is the third league match in a row in which Brentford have scored first and finished level.

Schade scores first, Bournemouth turn it round

Brentford went ahead on thirty-four minutes. Yehor Yarmoliuk crossed and Schade headed in from the centre of the box, into the bottom right corner. It was Brentford’s first shot on target of the afternoon, and they would have only one more.

Bournemouth were level four minutes later. Justin Kluivert, who had already had a shot saved by Kelleher a minute earlier, finished left-footed from the centre of the box into the bottom right corner, and the goal stood after a VAR review.

The home side went in front seven minutes into the second half. Evanilson set up Marcus Tavernier on the left side of the box, and he finished left-footed into the bottom right corner. It was Tavernier’s third league goal of the season, and the first time in the match that Bournemouth had been in front.

Brentford equalised almost immediately. On fifty-six minutes Schade let fly right-footed from long range on the left and the ball went in through the centre of the goal. Two shots on target in ninety minutes, two goals.

Twenty shots and a goalkeeper in the way

What followed was a half-hour of Bournemouth pressure and Kelleher saves. Tavernier was denied twice from outside the box, on sixty-six and sixty-eight minutes, the second a stop in the top right corner. Tyler Adams was kept out on seventy-three, Rayan on seventy-eight and Adrien Truffert on eighty, before Truffert tried again in stoppage time and was saved once more.

By the end Bournemouth had 56.6% of the ball, twenty shots and ten on target. Brentford had eight shots and two on target. Kelleher made eight saves. At the other end Djordje Petrović did not have to make one: both of Brentford’s shots on target went in.

• Kevin Schade (Brentford), 34 minutes: header, assisted by Yehor Yarmoliuk
• Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth), 38 minutes: confirmed after a VAR review
• Marcus Tavernier (Bournemouth), 52 minutes: assisted by Evanilson
• Kevin Schade (Brentford), 56 minutes: right foot, from long range
• Shots: Bournemouth 20 (10 on target), Brentford 8 (2 on target)
• Yellow cards: Bournemouth 5, Brentford 1 (Igor Thiago)

Bournemouth also collected five yellow cards, despite committing fewer fouls than Brentford, ten to thirteen: Tavernier before half-time, James Hill on sixty-three minutes, and then Lewis Cook, Adam Smith and David Brooks in the space of four minutes late on. Cook had only come on at eighty-two, replacing the injured Adams, and was booked three minutes later.

Bournemouth have led in all four league matches

The pattern is now too consistent to call bad luck. On the opening weekend Tavernier put Bournemouth ahead at Manchester City and they lost 2-1 to goals in the eighty-fourth and ninety-first minutes. A week later Alex Scott gave them the lead against Everton and James Tarkowski equalised in the ninety-first. At St James’ Park they were 2-0 up after thirty-five minutes and drew 2-2.

On Saturday they were behind first for the first time in the league this season, came from behind to lead, and still did not win. Four matches, four spells in front, one defeat, three draws and three points. Bournemouth are fifteenth in the table.

The numbers underneath are not those of a struggling team. Twenty shots at home, ten on target and six goals scored across the four matches is a reasonable attacking return. The problem is the part of the match that comes after the goal: counting the defeat at the Etihad and the three draws, they have dropped nine points from winning positions.

Brentford: unbeaten and drawing

Brentford are the mirror image. They scored first in all four of their league matches. They won the first 3-0 against Tottenham, and since then they have been pegged back three times: 1-1 at Leeds after Schade’s opener, 1-1 at home to Sunderland after Vitaly Janelt’s, and now 2-2 here.

Six points from four matches and no defeats leaves them seventh. Schade has three of their seven goals, having also scored at Elland Road. The obvious reading is that a team which keeps scoring first and keeps drawing is not closing matches out, and the defensive record, four conceded, is solid rather than mean.

Their week does not get easier. Brentford are at Reading in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday night, and then back into a league season in which three straight draws have at least kept them unbeaten.

Simulate the rest of the Premier League season

Bournemouth and Brentford are one result apart in a table that is still being shaped. On the Premier League simulator you can play every remaining fixture from the real standings, and run any single match through the AI simulator to see whether Bournemouth finally hold on to a lead.

• Play the remaining 34 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Simulate this week’s Carabao Cup third-round ties, including Reading against Brentford
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"Bournemouth have been in front in all four league matches this season. They have three points to show for it."