Manager Andoni Iraola believes soul was the key to Bournemouth’s 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage as his team made it 16 Premier League games unbeaten to strengthen their grip on a European place.
The second half was played 10 against 10 after red cards for Ryan Christie and Joachim Andersen and that helped open up a stale affair, from which the visitors profited to move to within two victories of Europa League qualification.
Rayan struck the winner in the 53rd minute, rifling in his fifth goal for the club since arriving in January, as Fulham’s own European hopes were all but extinguished.
“We spoke at half-time, the second half was about the soul of the team because it was 10 against 10, spaces everywhere, one against one duels,” said Iraola.
“There were tired legs for sure at the end. You need the soul when you are running out of energy. We’ve shown this. Luckily for us we finished the job.”
An otherwise unremarkable match took a turn for the bizarre late in the first half when both teams had a player sent off for violent conduct a few minutes apart.
Christie was first to go for landing his studs on the ankle of Timothy Castagne and before Fulham had a chance to make their advantage pay, Andersen launched into a similarly reckless challenge on Adrien Truffert.
“Considering we were playing 10 against 10, it’s more open, we were quite compact,” said Iraola. “The big chance they had comes from a long throw. Overall, I think we’ve been very solid.”
Iraola has only two more matches in charge before departing when his contract expires.
The Spaniard hopes to have a near full-strength side for the visit of Manchester City next before the team finish away to Nottingham Forest, with Justin Kluivert and Lewis Cook set to return for what could be an historic climax to the season.
“They are showing they want it a lot,” said Iraola. “They are pushing a lot. Everyone is fighting to be available.
“Today, Justin, I wanted to give him some minutes. Lewis Cook is going to be ready for the next one. I think we will have everyone available.
“I hope we can keep this mentality until the end.
“When you are pushing for Europe, the teams around you win a lot of games. We’ve left some opponents behind but we still need more points.
“We are in a good place, but we play City and we play Forest away. We have to find points from somewhere.”
Iraola was without defender Alex Jimenez after the club announced on Friday he would not be available for selection while they investigate messages he allegedly sent that were shared on social media.
Asked about Jimenez’s absence, Iraola said: “You have to separate a little bit the football side from the rest.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva reflected that the red cards turned the game against his team.
“We played a very good first half 11 against 11,” he said. “We were the team on the front foot, some very good moments of football. They’re a difficult side to play against, they’re intense.
“Until the red cards, the game was completely on our side. The result didn’t show that because of moments when were weren’t clinical enough.”
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