Bournemouth are up to fifth in the Premier League table after a resounding 4-0 win over Watford on Saturday.
The Cherries recorded their biggest ever Premier League away victory and stretched 10-man Watford’s winless top-flight run to four with a stunning attacking exhibition at Vicarage Road.
A second consecutive league triumph for Eddie Howe’s side moves them up to fifth in the table, while Watford’s season – which started with four straight wins – is in danger of unravelling.
David Brooks – who scored in Monday’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace – got the Cherries on their way early on before Josh King doubled their advantage from the spot after Christian Kabasele had brought him down in the area after 33 minutes.
Kabasele received a second caution and subsequent red for that challenge and the visitors made their numerical superiority count as King and Callum Wilson scored either side of half-time to seal a memorable win.
Despite a sluggish start Bournemouth took the lead after a flowing counter-attack in the 14th minute. Wilson’s effort from King’s low cross was superbly pawed away by Ben Foster, but only as far as Brooks, who turned into an empty net from 10 yards.
The hosts should have restored parity soon after, but an unmarked Craig Cathcart inexplicably headed wide from six yards.
Wilson then missed a glorious headed chance of his own from Brooks’ cross before Kabasele’s haphazard defending all but ended his side’s hopes of getting back into the game.
The Belgian received his second yellow card for clumsily hauling King down in the area, the Cherries forward coolly slotting into Foster’s bottom-left corner from the resulting spot-kick.
Watford’s misery was compounded on the stroke of half-time when King bagged his second, heading past Foster at the back post from Wilson’s teasing cross.
Wilson then got in on the act two minutes after the restart, looping a volley over Foster from Ryan Fraser’s cross for his third goal of the season.
Foster denied King a third late on, but it mattered little as Bournemouth comfortably saw things out to register a punishing win.
Watford: Javi Gracia will take his side to Wolves after the international break desperate for a return to winning ways
Bournemouth: The Cherries will be looking to make it three wins on the spin when Southampton visit the Vitality Stadium.
The optimism generated by that sparkling start to the season has well and truly evaporated for Watford. Troy Deeney and Andre Gray look shadows of the snarling, energetic forces that struck fear into defences early in the season, while the creativity of Roberto Pereyra and Will Hughes failed to lift the team. Bournemouth, meanwhile, can bask in a superb start to the campaign, which has now seen them win five of their opening eight games.
Josh King looks has looked like a player reborn under Eddie Howe, his skill and power was the root cause of Kabasele’s moment of madness in the first half – the game’s defining moment. He was only denied the hat-trick his superb display merited by the outstretched foot of Foster late in the second half.
