Bournemouth’s patience rewarded as Marco Rose’s side climb after rocky Premier League start
Bournemouth, under Marco Rose, have turned around a difficult opening to their Premier League season and, as of 2026-11-04, have won six consecutive matches in all competitions since their 5-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
The club failed to register a win in their first six league fixtures, collecting three defeats and three draws after Andoni Iraola left in the summer and Rose took over; media speculation about his future followed that slow start. Rose repeatedly defended his team’s process, saying: “It’s about results at this level. But performance-wise, I see a lot of good things.” The article notes Iraola himself did not win any of his first nine Premier League games in charge of Bournemouth.
The 5-1 loss at Chelsea was striking because Chelsea’s five goals came from just 1.1 expected goals (xG), while Bournemouth produced a higher total xG of 1.38. Jordan Henderson scored twice from outside the box (one a free-kick), João Pedro’s strike came from a Pedro Neto cut-back, and Morgan Rogers’ effort was aided by a deflection. Rose acknowledged he was less forgiving after the Stamford Bridge defeat but maintained there were elements of the scoreline that looked harsh.
Bournemouth’s earlier fixtures included narrow and late reversals that compounded their poor start: they led Manchester City 1-0 until the 84th minute before losing 2-1; a 90th-minute equaliser denied them a win in a 1-1 draw with Everton; Newcastle salvaged a 2-2 draw with an 88th-minute leveller after being 2-0 down; and Bournemouth led twice against Brentford but drew 2-2 following individual errors from Adrien Truffert and Djordje Petrovic. Rose defended the performances: “As a coach, you evaluate the performance as well as the result, and in most phases of the game it was really good,” and added, “I don’t want to blame anyone because I saw so many positive things.”
Analytical indicators suggested Bournemouth’s league position understated their play: they won the xG battle in four of their opening six matches, and an xPts model gave them 8.4 expected points despite being 18th with three actual points. After the Chelsea defeat Rose challenged his squad: “We can see the table. Now it’s up to us to prove we can handle the situation.” He also defended his players following other early setbacks, saying after the Liverpool match: “We played a good game against Liverpool. They had some days more to recover, and I think we looked fit, even at the end. We were the team that went for a goal.”
Since the Stamford Bridge loss Bournemouth have played six and won six in all competitions, scoring 16 goals from 16.4 xG while allowing opponents chances worth only 0.81 xG on average; Henderson’s free-kick at Stamford Bridge was the last goal they conceded. Their run includes victories over Sturm Graz and Milan in the Europa League, Aston Villa in the League Cup, and Premier League wins against Sunderland, Manchester United and Leeds.
Those results have propelled Bournemouth up the standings to eighth in the Premier League, and their 15.4 xPts for the season to date is bettered only by Arsenal (18.2), Man City (17.1) and Nottingham Forest (15.5). Rose tempered claims of personal intervention, saying before the Leeds match: “I would love to say I’m a magician and I changed some good stuff, but sometimes it’s just about getting this kind of experience, and then if you react well that’s always the most important thing.” He added: “You can make mistakes – you can lose, you can have a bad day – but the reaction is the most important thing, and I think we showed a good reaction. We didn’t lack much, and now we just have the last 5% in everything.” Forward Evanilson has scored in each of his past four league outings, his four goals coming from 2.8 xG, and the team have reduced the flow of high-quality chances for opponents.
Over the next five matches only Coventry and Aston Villa have more straightforward schedules than Bournemouth according to our rankings, so their recent surge could be sustained if current form continues.