West Brom 2 Bournemouth 1: McAuley winner piles pressure on Howe

A Gareth McAuley strike after some unconvincing goalkeeping from Artur Boruc saw West Brom beat Bournemouth 2-1 at The Hawthorns to further pile the pressure on Eddie Howe.

The former Celtic shot-stopper flapped at a corner midway through the first half and McAuley was on hand to take advantage, with Craig Dawson earlier cancelling out Joshua King’s opener.

Saturday’s defeat means Bournemouth have now gone seven Premier League games without a win, with Howe’s men losing their last four to slip into the battle to avoid relegation.

The Cherries still sit 14th in the table with 26 points from as many games, but they are just five points clear of the drop zone following this weekend’s results, with 18th-placed Leicester City in action against Liverpool on Monday.

West Brom, meanwhile, are eighth on 40 points as Tony Pulis and his men continue to enjoy a fine 2016-17 campaign.

Bournemouth made a fine start and went a goal up after just five minutes when King found the net from the penalty spot. Allan Nyom clumsily hauled down Ryan Fraser inside the area, leaving referee Mark Clattenburg with no option, and Norway international King coolly slotted home from 12 yards.

The lead lasted just five minutes before Dawson restored parity. The defender opted to try his luck from 20 yards after a good team move and his shot took a wicked deflection off Charlie Daniels to leave Boruc stranded.

1 – Craig Dawson’s goal was the first scored for WBA in the Premier League by an English player since April 25th 2016 (also Dawson). Lion.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 25, 2017

Boosted by the equaliser, the hosts went in search of a second and they struck again through McAuley in the 22nd minute, with more than a little help from Boruc. The Poland international completely missed the ball as he attempted to punch a corner from the right and the ball fell kindly for McAuley to tap home from close range.

West Brom continued to cause Bournemouth all kinds of trouble from set pieces and they came close to extending their lead early in the second half with McAuley unfortunate to see his header hit the crossbar, before Nacer Chadli had a goal disallowed for offside just moments later.

The away side were presented with a fine chance to level the scoring when Clattenburg awarded them a free-kick on the edge of the area after a foul on Fraser, but Steve Cook failed to get his shot past the wall. James McClean wasted two chances to add a third for WBA in the closing stages but it mattered little.