Andoni Iraola believes Bournemouth will not feel the impact of Antoine Semenyo’s departure in January after extending his unbeaten run in the Premier League to eight games.
Iraola’s comments came after his team drew 1-1 with Sunderland at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, with Evanilson’s 63rd minute equalizer canceling out Eliezer Mayenda’s opener.
Only Aston Villa (19) and Sunderland (16) have achieved more points this season due to loss of position than Bournemouth in the Premier League (15).
The Cherries are also now unbeaten in their last eight top-flight matches (W4 D4), having gone on a longer run without defeat only once before in the competition (11 between November 2024 and January 2025).
The draw saw Bournemouth drop to ninth after Everton’s victory over Newcastle United later in the day, although they are still in the hunt for a place in Europe next season despite losing talisman Semenyo to Manchester City last month.
Prior to his reported £64million move to City, only Igor Thiago (17) and Erling Haaland (24) had registered more goals than Semenyo (13, level with Bruno Fernandes), and Iraola complimented his side for the way they handled his departure.
“It’s true, we’re getting decent results. It’s difficult to go eight games without losing in the Premier League,” Iraola told BBC Match of the Day.
“We probably play too much. We have a lot of draws in the Premier League. Some of them are very good draws, some not so good.”
“Thirty-nine points, today we lost the chance to get that magical 40 points that everyone considers the first. But we have to keep going. In three days we play against Brentford.”
We extend our undefeated streak in the @premierleague up to eight games
The second-best current run of any team in the division pic.twitter.com/4k2DX0mRn5
— AFC Bournemouth (@afcbournemouth) February 28, 2026
Bournemouth had to work for their point, however, after registering an expected goals total (xG) of 1.5 from their 21 shots and Sunderland’s 1.42 from their eight attempts.
However, Sunderland missed some glorious chances when a goal was scored, most notably through Habib Diarra, who failed to finish in the one-on-one match against Djordje Petrovic.
“I think a draw is probably not the result we wanted, but we paid for our slow start. It cost us a lot of minutes to get going,” Iraola added.
“In the second half we were much better and closer to winning. But we paid for this slow start. We conceded the first goal, and after that it became difficult.”
For Sunderland, meanwhile, they were able to stop the rot in the Premier League by ending a run of three consecutive defeats with a brave point away from home.
However, the Black Cats have now failed to win on their travels in the top flight since a 2-1 win over Chelsea in October, marking a run of nine games without a win.
It is their longest run on the road in the same season in the Premier League since April 2010 (16), although Regis Le Bris was delighted with the performance of his injury-hit team.
“It’s a difficult place. They have a clear identity, they are intense and always at the forefront. It was very positive for us to challenge this position,” Le Bris said.
“After three defeats in a row, it is not a matter of tactics or technique, but of mentality, to be honest. Today we showed that.”
“We probably had the chance to win this game, especially at the beginning of the second half by making it 2-0. We didn’t score, but in the end it’s a good point.”
“We had several options on the bench. We also had a few injuries from Fulham so it was important to make a few changes and the boys are still linked to the team.”
“We’re a small group, so they know that with injuries and suspensions and so on, something is going to happen. When the time comes, you have to get ready and that’s what they did today.”
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