Hat-Trick Kluivert

It was certainly one of the most anticipated games of the season. Both teams in red-hot form. Long unbeaten runs. Unbelievable performances. Whatever you want. In the end; it turned out to be just that; but perhaps not how we had envisaged it. It was not a thrilling 3-3 draw; but rather a surprisingly lop-sided 1-4 win for the away team Bournemouth; who surely came into this one as underdogs nonetheless.

It seemed like Andoni Iraola's men came into this one with something to prove; and it looked that way when Antonine Semenyo's brilliant cut-back was turned into goal astutely by Justin Kluivert; son of the Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert; who had a famous but ultimately barren spell at Newcastle back in 2004. Newcastle to their credit powered on and the pressure was just about increasing when Bruno Guimaraes found space in the box to head home Lewis Hall's inswinging corner.

Just when you thought surely Newcastle would go on to grasp control; it tuned out to be anything but. The Bournemouth press had been causing them all sorts of problems; and their mis-found confidence was rightly punished when Dan Burn played a dangerous ball to Guimaraes who had actually called for it. Ryan Christie; raveling in a new-found central midfield position; needed no second invitation to bite into the challenge; leading to Dango Ouattara setting up Kluivert for another finish.

Things got even tastier for Bournemouth in the second half; as Ouattara himself finished off a move that had them 3-1 up but was disallowed for VAR; only for Kluivert to do it for real with a scorcher after another misplaced ball from Anthony Gordon. With things winding down; left-back Milos Kerkez rounded off a brilliant game by storming up in the 97th minute; bamboozling Kieran Trippier with a step-over and rifling home to end the contest once & for all. Fittingly; he took off his jersey in celebration. Newcastle had been run naked.