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AFC Bournemouth opened their 2026/27 season with an away trip to Manchester City in the Premier League. The Cherries headed into this game on an 18 league game unbeaten run, the longest of any side across any of the major divisions in Europe. The two sides last met in May, for AFC Bournemouth’s final home game of the season. It turned out to be a historic occasion as the Cherries mathematically clinched a European qualification spot for the first time in the club’s history. Similar to that game, AFC Bournemouth took a well-deserved lead, this time through Marcus Tavernier after an exquisite assist from Evanilson, but also, just like that game, Manchester City struck late on. However, on this occasion, Manchester City completed the comeback. Marc Guehi scored the equaliser when he was afforded the freedom of Manchester from a corner. He headed the ball unchallenged beyond a helpless Petrovic. Then, after a VAR check, Manchester City’s winner was awarded when an offside call was reversed and Josko Gvardiol goal was given in stoppage time at the end of the game. Man of the Match against Man City? Tavernier Evanilson Petrovic Kluivert Someone else After the game, AFC Bournemouth head coach Marco Rose told Sky Sports… “We are competitors, We came here to win the first time. We were in a good way to do it. We did many good things. At the end, how the game went, it was quite unlucky to lose that way. “We had two situations. One corner kick and one situation where we were too passive. A game does not last 80 minutes, it’s 90 minutes. We have to defend better. Here you need to find the right triggers, which we did really well for a long time.” “We had some transition situations and scored a really nice goal, It’s about details. We can build on this, it’s a good foundation. But we’ve got no points and we play for points. The plan was good, we just struggled in the final minutes. “The game is never over here, you have to defend for five or six minutes longer here.” Newman104 I just don’t understand why, after such a successful first half, the plan was to park the bus for the entirety of the 2nd half. We didn’t even have a touch in City’s half for the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half. No matter how poor they’re playing, they’ll eventually beat you if you don’t put any sort of pressure on them. Red_Dez Given everyone’s focus on set pieces these days, we are going to be easy picking if they don’t sort this out quickly. Disappointing not to see anyone take ownership of sorting it out on the pitch after the first one; we got what we deserved, letting it happen again. BillyTheKid Didn’t think we were so convincing in the second half and couldn’t get forward enough to trouble City. Two goals in 6 minutes sealed the points for City, even though it took a VAR decision to overturn the linesman’s offside decision. City: 13 shots, 6 on target. AFCB 5 shots, 4 on target. Unbeaten 18-game league run over. Kellyville Red I don’t have as much of a problem as some with the second half. We sat in a mid block so that there was no space between the lines and nowhere for Haaland or Semenyo to run in behind. You have to say it worked. Other than set pieces, where we were so poor they never looked like scoring. I think we threw it away with our triple change. Toth simply didn’t stay disciplined defensively, and he should never have come on for Cook. Rayan was the one to go off, as he produced nothing pretty much all game, and Cook was the glue controlling the spacing. After the equaliser, Toth and Scott lost their shape completely. Adams didn’t correct things, and they were playing through us centrally, which didn’t happen at all in the second half before the equaliser. Horrible game to throw away because we weren’t pretty, but we were effective, and the game was done. Green_Cherry Difficult result to take, especially with the late VAR winner. But there were quite a few positives I saw. Silva looks class, Scott had a decent game after a poor start, Tav looked good as always, and I can see Jebbo becoming a fan favourite this season if he plays like that regularly. On the other hand, Cook was weak in the middle, and we missed some physicality in the middle. I said it last season, but we still need a Christie replacement, someone like Sangare at Brentford. Overall, I’m looking forward to this season, and with maybe one or two more signings, I can see us being very competitive. At the end of the day, losing 2:1 to City isn’t a bad result for Bournemouth. Audenshaw Cherry A lot of effort. Very good goal But sitting back for the whole of the second, defending a one-goal lead is dangerous and rarely works for us, and it didn’t today. Half the team was knackered with ten minutes to go. Subs were made too late. Jebbo looked frisky when he came on. Disappointing ending, but some good signs.