AFC Bournemouth 1 (Tavernier 4) Wolves 0
Ten-man Wolves were condemned to defeat in their opening away game of the 2025/26 Premier League season as AFC Bournemouth came out on top in the south coast.
After falling behind early on to Marcus Tavernier’s deflected strike, the Old Gold’s task to come from behind became even more difficult in the second half when captain Toti was dismissed just moments after the break.
Despite pushing hard for an equaliser late on in the contest, Wolves were unable to show their teeth in the final third of the pitch, as they succumbed to their first ever Premier League loss at the Vitality Stadium.
A frantic start to the match saw chances for both sides inside the opening few minutes, with the hosts having the first opportunity when a cross to the far post met David Brooks, but the winger could only fire his effort well over Jose Sa’s crossbar.
Straight from the goal kick, Marshall Munetsi was played in on goal following Jorgen Strand Larsen’s flick on, but the Zimbabwean could only smash his half volley over the bar.
That miss proved costly for Wolves as Bournemouth opened the scoring just moments later. The visitors failed to clear the danger at the back after a miss-touch by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde played Antoine Semeyo into space. The forward slipped a pass wide to Tavernier whose on-target effort took a heavy deflection off Emmanuel Agbadou, wrongfooting Sa, and in off the crossbar.
It was the hosts who were having much of the better chances in the opening stages, and Semenyo could, and possibly should, have made it two for the Cherries as he was picked out by Brooks at the far post, but hammered his shot against the crossbar from just a few yards out.
Wolves could have pulled an equaliser back inside 20 minutes when Jhon Arias – on his full debut – slipped a pass wide to Ki-Jana Hoever, who in turn found Strand Larsen inside the Bournemouth box, but although his header had Dorde Petrovic scrambling, the keeper was able to push the ball away at full stretch.
Pereira handed a debut to new signing Jackson Tchatchoua in the first half after an injury to Hoever, but the wing-back was unable to inspire a first-half come back from the visitors, and instead had to do plenty of defending as Bournemouth pressed for a second, but chances from Brooks and Alex Scott were spurned.
Half-time | Bournemouth 1-0 Wolves
Pereira made a double change at the break as he tried to get his side back into the game from the off, with Andre and Hugo Bueno replacing David Moller Wolfe and Bellegarde, and it was Bueno who almost made an immediate impact as the left-wing-back whipped in an impressive cross to Arias who hit a sweetly struck volley just wide of the post.
Wolves were indebted to Sa to keep the score down to just the one for Bournemouth throughout the second period, with the keeper making a big one handed stop to deny Semenyo from close range.
Less than five minutes after the break, Wolves were reduced to 10 when Toti – already on a yellow – was shown a straight red card when he put both hands onto the back of Evanilson as the Bournemouth forward ran through on goal, and as last man, referee Thomas Bramall was given no choice but to send the skipper off.
Sa again had to be at his best to push a Tyler Adams long-range curling effort over the crossbar at full stretch, while Wolves had chances of their own as Agbadou slammed a free-kick into the wall from a dangerous position, while Tchatchoua was unable to link up with Strand Larsen despite having a few opportunities to find the Norwegian inside the box.
Wolves pushed hard in the last 10 minutes, but that tactic left them open at the back and Bournemouth almost capitalised as Semenyo, Justin Kluivert and Junior Kroupi came close to adding a second for the hosts.
With the final kick of the game, Hugo Bueno could only fire high and wide after a corner was half cleared, as Wolves were left to rue their missed opportunities and will now look to get up and running for the season in the Carabao Cup against West Ham United at Molineux on Tuesday night.
Full-time | Bournemouth 1-0 Wolves
Bournemouth | Petrovic, Smith, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert, Adams (Hill 88), Semenyo, Scott (Christie 66), Tavernier (Kluivert 78), Brooks (Adli 66), Evanilson (Kroupi Jr 88).
Unused subs | Dennis, Araujo, Gannon-Doak, Soler.
Wolves | Sa, Hoever (Tchatchoua 34), Doherty, Agbadou, Toti, Wolfe (H Bueno 45), Gomes, Bellegarde (Andre 45), Munetsi, Arias (S Bueno 56), Strand Larsen (Hwang 78).
Unused subs | Johnstone, R Gomes, Mosquera, Lopez.
