Are Bournemouth the Premier League Comeback Kings?

This weekend, Bournemouth scored three goals in the final nine minutes of their match to come from 2-0 down to beat Everton 3-2. In an interview after the match, Cherries boss Andoni Iraola said that he always believed that the players could turn it around because they have done so before, so I decided to look at some of the club’s greatest comebacks in Premier League history.

Bournemouth 3-3 Everton

In their first season in the Premier League in 2015/16, Bournemouth met Everton at home in a game which not only became a fan favourite at Dean Court, but also a meme because of Chris Kamara’s coverage of it for Sky Sports. The home side were 2-0 down until the 80th minute when Adam Smith, the only player who remains in the Bournemouth team in 2024, got a goal back with an outstanding strike.

REPORT: Read all about #afcb's dramatic 3-3 draw with @Everton on https://t.co/DOYLcT7l9Z: https://t.co/LNsp5eWMKP pic.twitter.com/cZoSlKGKkp

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) November 28, 2015

Junior Stanislas then scored in the 87th minute to equalise and it looked certain that the game would end there. Everton had been hit with a sucker punch and it was unlikely that they would recover, however Ross Barkley scored in the 95th minute to send the away end into delirium. There were fans on the pitch and the restart had to be delayed while the stewards and the police restored order.

Then, straight from kickoff, Bournemouth went up the other end and Junior Stanislas equalised with the final kick (well actually it was a header) of the game to give Bournemouth a point. Chris Kamara had no words, not even ‘it’s unbelievable Jeff’.

Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool

The next season, Bournemouth completed another comeback against a Merseyside club, but this time, they managed to get a winner. The Cherries fought back from 2-0 down at half time and 3-1 down with just 15 minutes to go, to give them their first ever win over Liverpool.

With just 15 minutes left, Ryan Fraser scored from the edge of the box to make Liverpool fans nervous, and just two minutes later they were level. Centre back Steve Cook brought the ball down with his back to goal, turned and fired past Loris Karius in goal to send the home fans wild.

GOAL, Bournemouth complete the comeback! What a response! Nathan Aké with the goal.

Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 4, 2016

Divock Origi nearly scored the winner in the 90th minute, but his shot went just over the bar. At the other end, in the third minute of stoppage time, Steve Cook decided to have another go, this time from range, and the shot was spilled by Karius into the path of Nathan Ake, who only had to tap it over the line. This game is still considered one of the best in Bournemouth’s Premier League history.

Nottingham Forest 2-3 Bournemouth

While Bournemouth did beat Nottingham Forest by this margin last season, I am actually talking about the game in the 2022/23 season, when Bournemouth were 2-0 down at half time and came back to win 3-2 and their first ever ‘Oracle Most Improbable Comeback Award’.

At 50 minutes on the clock, the Cherries had a 2.4% chance to win, but Phillip Billing managed to rescue hope with an incredible long range strike just a few minutes later. Just after the hour mark, Dominic Solanke equalised with an overhead kick and from then on it looked as if there’d be only one winner.

It took until the 87th minute for Bournemouth to find their third goal, but Jaidon Anthony was on hand to seal the victory for the visitors after Solanke robbed a Forest defender deep in their own half.

Bournemouth 4-3 Luton Town

Considered by many as the greatest comeback in Premier League history (that was until this weekend anyway), Bournemouth’s rescheduled match against Luton brought all of the action. The original fixture was abandoned at 1-1 after Tom Lockyer collapsed on the pitch, but he was present in the stands to watch this one.

Luton stormed into a 3-0 lead at half time, giving the Cherries a mountain to climb. Barkley was amongst the goal scorers once again. At the start of the second half, Bournemouth were given just a 0.6% chance to win, but that soon changed, as Solanke scored a well taken goal just four minutes after the restart. Just fifteen minutes later, Bournemouth were level, with Illya Zabarnyi and Antoine Semenyo scoring in quick succession.

Congratulations to @afcbournemouth, the @Oracle Most Improbable Comeback award winners for the second season in a row! 👏

Their 4-3 against Luton was only the fifth time in Premier League history a team won from three goals down!#PLAwards pic.twitter.com/YGDniAKJGN

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 21, 2024

Like the Forest game, once the two teams were level, there was only one team that was going to win, and in the 83rd minute, Semenyo scored his second of the game to give the Cherries the win. It was just the fifth time in Premier League history, and the first in 21 years, that a team won after being 3-0 down at half time.

Everton 2-3 Bournemouth

While we are only three games into the new season, it seems likely that Bournemouth will win their third ‘most improbable comeback award’ in a row. For 86 minutes, Bournemouth were terrible, as they always are at Goodison Park for some reason. The Cherries were 2-0 down with just three minutes of normal time left to play when Semenyo turned in Dango Ouattara’s cross to give the travelling fans something to celebrate.

That goal must have sparked something inside the Bournemouth players, as they continued to attack and in the 92nd minute, Lewis Cook, who was captaining the side for the first time in the Premier League, scored his first top flight goal with his head, despite being about five inches shorter than everyone else on the pitch.

We became the first-ever team in #PL history to be two or more goals down in the 87th minute and go on to win the game 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/om1zelcGTi

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) August 31, 2024

Then, in the 96th minute, Justin Kluivert, who had played an absolutely dreadful game, played in a perfect cross for substitute Luis Sinisterra to head home. It was the latest turnaround from a team that was 2-0 down in Premier League history by some way and gave the Cherries their first win of the season.