Bournemouth 2-4 Burnley: Championship leaders hit four book place in FA Cup fourth round

Anass Zaroury could have learned a thing or two about what it takes to make it through the World Cup qualifiers.

The winger was involved in one of the tournament’s storylines as a member of the Morocco team that became the first African country to reach the semi-finals before finishing fourth.

Now back on domestic duty, the 22-year-old brought some of that magic touch with him to Vitality Stadium, scoring twice, as did teammate Manuel Benson, to help send Championship leaders Burnley into form to the fourth round in fighting, Premier League expense Bournemouth.

Manuel Benson scored in each half as Burnley booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round

Benson’s second goal seals victory for the Championship leaders against Bournemouth

Zaroury’s second goal, the highlight of the game, was certainly worthy of the biggest stage, a well-crafted team effort that he rounded off when he cheekily chipped the ball between two Bournemouth players, recovered it from Josh Brownhill and hit two opponents. more before shooting. inside to put Burnley 3-1 up. The same could not be said of the four other goals in the matches.

The first three in particular were simply more ammunition for critics of teams playing too close to their own net.

Bournemouth gifted Burnley the opening goal, the visitors returning the favor before the Cherries played generous hosts once again.

Benson opened the scoring with a powerful first-half shot in the sixth minute of the match

Ryan Christie capitalized on a loose pass to equalize for the hosts in a dramatic opening to the tie

Burnley’s staunch loyalty to his methods is understandable. The passing approach of manager and two-time FA Cup winner Vincent Kompany has helped his team emerge as Championship leaders and pull away from the chasing pack.

Bournemouth’s reasoning for inviting pressure on themselves was a bit more difficult to understand.

They had already been struggling to keep the ball out of their net before this tie and have now conceded 12 times having lost all five games since the season resumed after the World Cup.

They started well, but found themselves down a goal after conceding a self-inflicted first goal.

Anass Zaroury took advantage of poor defending to score twice before half time

Zaroury’s second goal on the stroke of half-time gave the Clarets a two-goal lead

Zaroury’s second goal caused Bournemouth to be booed by their home fans.

Under minimal pressure, Marcos Senesi passed directly to Johann Gudmundsson, who slipped past Manuel Benson to score.

Burnley’s confidence, further bolstered by the early goal, was evident as they easily maintained possession.

But it briefly seemed overconfident when Josh Cullen made a rare passing error, chipping the ball through his own box straight to Ryan Christie, who finished for the first time past Bailey Peacock-Farrell out of position.

Dominic Solanke closed the gap with a header from point-blank range early in the second half

However, Bournemouth did not learn their lesson.

Lewis Cook gave the ball to Ashley Barnes and it slid into Brownhill for Zaroury to score his first.

Four minutes later, the Morocco man picked up his second solo second, ensuring Bournemouth were booed at half-time, and Gary O’Neil’s half-time triple change, with captain Lloyd Kelly among those featured, went unheeded. a surprise.

It paid off immediately when Moore joined Christie who set up Dom Solanke to beat Peacock-Farrell on second try.

But after Zaroury threatened again, Bournemouth presented Burnley with their fourth goal.

Vincent Kompany’s team will take their place in the FA Cup fourth round draw

Barnes picked up Christie’s misplaced header and played through Benson to double his second of the game past Mark Travers.

Bournemouth’s aerial threat meant they stayed in the game despite being down two goals and from a corner Christie had a header from Barnes before Kelly hit another against the post.

But Burnley displayed some of the defensive qualities for which they were once most famous, to hang on and deliver a result that might have been a surprise on paper, but was no big surprise in reality.