BOURNEMOUTH : A quick-fire Jefferson Lerma double helped Bournemouth beat Leeds United 4-1 at home in the Premier League on Sunday, lifting them further away from relegation danger and leaving the visitors a point clear of the drop zone.
Leeds have 30 points to sit 16th – a point above 18th-placed Leicester City and two above 19th-placed Everton, who play each other on Monday.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth moved up to 13th in the standings with 39 points to give the south-coast club a huge boost after they found themselves at the bottom of the table and staring at relegation at the start of March.
“Three points today, I believe achieves our goal of staying in the Premier League. Now we can set more goals for the next four games,” Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil told Sky Sports.
“We were working hard before and suffered huge injury problems with a squad were weren’t really able to strengthen in the summer. Then new ownership in January, so new players arriving and some back from injury.
“We never dropped our heads and it made a perfect storm where we never lost momentum. We knew we were on the right track and had to keep pushing.”
Leeds were awarded a penalty for a handball in the fourth minute before VAR intervened as replays showed the contact occurred just outside the area.
Lerma then scored twice in four minutes to give Bournemouth a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes.
The midfielder first pounced on a loose ball to curl a shot past the keeper and then doubled his tally when the ball fell to him at a corner when Leeds keeper Illan Meslier failed to gather a cross, smashing the ball into the roof of the net.
Patrick Bamford reduced the deficit for Leeds eight minutes later when the unmarked English striker got on the end of a Wilfried Gnonto cross to head home past Neto in Bournemouth’s goal.
But Bournemouth restored their two-goal cushion in the second half when Dango Outtara got on the end of a long ball from Neto and delivered a low cross into the box where Solanke stole in to score with some help from the far post.
With Leeds down and out, Bournemouth capitalised on their loss of focus to twist the knife, when Jaidon Anthony found Antoine Semenyo in space and the midfielder beat Meslier to make it 4-1.
“We knew today if we got three points we would be in a fantastic position. It was like a final for us and we performed,” Solanke told Premier League Productions.
“A lot of people wrote us off at the beginning of the season but we always believed in ourselves and the last eight games or so have been magnificent.
“I don’t know if we are mathematically safe, but I don’t think others will be able to catch us now.”
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