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Bournemouth took a giant stride towards qualifying for Europe for the first time as Rayan’s second-half strike earned a 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage that extended their unbeaten Premier League run to 16 games.
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.
Ryan Christie was first to be dismissed for landing his studs on the ankle of Timothy Castagne and before Fulham had a chance to make their advantage pay, Joachim Andersen launched into a similarly reckless challenge on Adrien Truffert and saw red.
That at least had the effect of opening up an otherwise cagey, nervous affair in which neither side looked set up to seize control in the race to finish sixth.
Rayan’s fifth goal for Bournemouth, whacked in in the 53rd minute, sealed it. Andoni Iraola’s side know victories in their final two games will guarantee at least a place in the Europa League, though should Aston Villa win that competition while finishing fifth, the Cherries could yet find themselves propelled onto the Champions League stage.
Josh King came agonisingly close to stealing a point when he cracked the underside of the bar with virtually the final kick as Fulham’s fading European hopes became all but extinguished.
It took until almost the half-hour mark for either side to threaten, and it was Fulham who ought to have gone ahead.
Samuel Chukwueze picked out Castagne with a lovely pass to release the full-back down the right and his cross was met by Rodrigo Muniz with a thumping header that flashed wide at the foot of the post.
Fulham thought things had tipped decisively their way four minutes before the break.
Christie was initially shown a yellow card for landing his studs up the back of Castagne’s ankle, but a pitchside review by referee Andrew Madley made plain the recklessness of the challenge, and Bournemouth were left to play more than half the game with 10.
From the resulting free-kick, Andersen outleapt everyone inside the box to head Harry Wilson’s cross against the bar before Djordje Petrovic in Bournemouth’s goal was called on to beat away Sasa Lukic’s drive as Fulham looked to make their one-man advantage count.
It would be wiped out before half-time as with the interval seconds away, Andersen flew with both feet off the ground into a challenge with Truffert and came down hard with his studs on the defender’s ankle. Another VAR review yielded the same outcome.
The second half began at a much faster pace, with more room now for either side to run into. Eli Junior Kroupi almost gave Bournemouth the lead with a curling effort that smacked the bar after being afforded too much time and space.
It was a warning Fulham would not heed and a minute later they fell behind, Rayan striking low and hard from 20 yards, a shot that seemed to deceive Bernd Leno with its flight before dropping into the bottom corner.
Substitute Amine Adli kicked at fresh air with an open goal gaping in stoppage time, then King’s thunderbolt rattled the bar before bouncing onto the goal line as Fulham fell short.
