Matt Ritchie hits rocket for Bournemouth as Sunderland are blown away

Matt Ritchie has a back catalogue few can rival when it comes to spectacular goals but here he perhaps added a new favourite with a strike so stunning that it would be a travesty if it fails to win an award. It was a fitting effort to match Bournemouth’s most convincing display yet in the Premier League. They are, it is fair to say, beginning to enjoy life in the top flight. Callum Wilson scored his fifth in six games, there were assured performances all over the pitch and a first clean sheet to boot.

The damage was done inside nine minutes, Ritchie’s volley coming five minutes after Wilson’s opener, and by the time Sunderland started fighting back in the second half, having blundered their way through the opening 45 minutes, it was already too late. They remain winless and their problems in both defence and attack show no sign of improving. “I am very, very angry with the players,” said manager Dick Advocaat. “And it’s not the first time. I will think about myself and what I did wrong but I also said to them that they need to, too. All my respect to Bournemouth ,  but there is no need to lose a game like this, in my opinion.”

It took only 210 seconds for the first crack to appear and Bournemouth ruthlessly punished them. Dan Gosling collected possession from a throw-in and, gliding forward, picked out Wilson on the edge of the area. The striker shook off Younès Kaboul, who was later sent off in a nightmare performance, with consummate ease before guiding a low finish past Costel Pantilimon. It was so simple from the hosts, so ragged from Sunderland . 

While that could have been prevented, there was nothing that could have been done to stop Ritchie’s magic. Charlie Daniels’ corner was headed clear by Yann M’Vila but only to the winger 25 yards from goal. He chested the ball down and, in one fluid movement, unleashed a left-footed pearler that curled in to Pantilimon’s top-right corner, leaving the 6ft 8in keeper with no chance of reaching an impeccably placed attempt . 

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