While the football world enjoys giving out more and more awards to its teams and players each season, there is one prize where Bournemouth appear to be cornering the market.
Since 2021-22, the Premier League has handed out the ‘Most Improbable Comeback’ award for when the number-crunchers have calculated a team has come back to win from the most statistically unlikely circumstances.
The Cherries picked up the prize in 2022-23, after recovering from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Nottingham Forest, and in 2023-24 for their stunning second-half comeback from 3-0 down to beat Luton 4-3.
But, with the new Premier League season only three games old, Andoni Iraola‘s side have already laid down a substantial marker to take the 2024-25 award.
Trailing 2-0 at Everton as late as the 87th minute on Saturday, the Cherries somehow rallied to come away from Goodison Park with all three points.
After that Luton game in March, I was asked to shortlist half-a-dozen of the best comebacks in Bournemouth’s history – and there is now undoubtedly another contender for that title because no Premier League side has ever trailed by two goals that late on and won.
Should the Cherries win the ‘Most Improbable Comeback’ honour for a third successive season, would they be allowed to keep it in perpetuity, like Brazil with the original Jules Rimet World Cup trophy?
Or should it just be renamed the ‘Bournemouth award’?
All joking aside, Iraola’s use of substitutions again bore fruit at Goodison.
Eyebrows may have been raised as record signing Evanilson – the only out-and-out striker in the starting XI and on the bench – was the first player withdrawn as Bournemouth chased the game, but his replacement Luis Sinisterra came up trumps with an assist and the winning goal.
While Evanilson adjusts from Portuguese to English football, Iraola has no shortage of options for the three attacking midfield roles behind the Brazilian.
He will hope to find the right blend to provide the attacking impetus his side showed in their grandstand finish at Everton – and in future, he will hope to find it before the 87th minute.
