AFC Bournemouth 3 Everton 3: Late, late drama as Stanislas snatches draw

Junior Stanislas’ late, late equaliser earned AFC Bournemouth a 3-3 Premier League draw with Everton at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

Ross Barkley appeared to have given Everton all three points with a 95th-minute strike after Bournemouth had fought back from two goals down to make it 2-2 with three minutes of normal time remaining.

But Stanislas had other ideas, as he popped up with almost the last kick of the game to snatch a point for Eddie Howe’s team.

Everton appeared to be on their way to a comfortable win following first-half goals from Ramiro Funes Mori and Romelu Lukaku, but Bournemouth drew level courtesy of goals from Adam Smith and Stanislas.

Incredible drama ensued, though, as first Barkley looked to have stolen victory for the visitors, before Stanislas restored parity again.

Bournemouth started on top and could have gone a goal up after just three minutes. Stanislas found Dan Gosling after a good move down the left, but the midfielder mishit his effort harmlessly wide.  

Josh King then tested Tim Howard with a powerful shot from 20 yards out, with John Stones clearing the rebound before Stanislas got to it.  

Sloppy defending from Simon Francis allowed Arouna Kone to unleash a powerful volley from a narrow angle halfway through the first half, but Adam Federici did well to deflect the ball wide before then denying Lukaku’s header from the resulting corner.  

There was nothing the Australia goalkeeper could do to deny Funes Mori in the 25th minute, though. Barkley curled in a corner from the left and the defender beat his marker and headed home his first goal for Everton.  

Lukaku then doubled Everton’s lead 11 minutes later. Gerard Deulofeu sent in a low cross from the right toward the in-form striker, who held off his marker before beating Federici at his near post with a powerful right-footed finish for his 10th league goal of the season.

Gosling should have pulled one back for Bournemouth shortly after the break following a good cross from Charlie Daniels, but the 25-year-old’s header lacked the power to worry Howard.

Lukaku could have doubled his tally at the hour mark after a dangerous cross from Seamus Coleman from the right, but he just failed to get his foot to the ball and the chance went begging.

Matt Ritchie got a good chance to add his name to the score sheet with 20 more minutes on the clock, only to fire straight at Howard from 12 yards.

Smith eventually did pull one back in superb fashion when he fired a shot in the top corner after the Everton defence failed to adequately clear Ritchie’s corner, before Stanislas finished well to square things up.

A fine goal from Barkley sparked a pitch invasion from the visiting supporters, but there was more drama to come as Stanislas had the final say.