Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring after 53 seconds as Bournemouth revived their continental push with a 1-0 win over European hopefuls Fulham at the Vitality Stadium.
Striker Semenyo capitalised on an early error by Cottagers captain Anthony Robinson to score his 10th goal of the season to give the Cherries their first win in seven league games.
Evanilson almost doubled the hosts' lead when he hit the post, but Andoni Iraola's side climbed to eighth place, ahead of their rivals and Brighton on goal difference.
Ryan Sessegnon missed Fulham's best chance to level, heading straight at Kepa Arrizabalaga in the first half and then was apparently wrongly substituted in the second.
Bournemouth began the evening with just two points from a possible 18 despite a sharp drop in form since finishing fifth with a 3-1 win at relegated Southampton on February 15.
Defender Marcos Senesi came on as a substitute for Ilya Zabarnyi in the only game of the 2-2 draw with West Ham, while Cottagers manager Marco Silva remained loyal to the side that beat reigning champions Liverpool 3-2.
Bournemouth took the lead within the first minute.
Alex Scott launched a counter-attack after a wide pass from Timothy Castagne, and then, taking advantage of a mistake by Robinson, Semenyo broke through towards the goal, rounded Joachim Andersen and sent the ball into the bottom left corner.
The hosts should have extended their lead in the 16th minute when Evanilson hit the crossbar from just four yards out after Scott had headed in Milos Kerkez's cross from the left.
Fulham also looked dangerous in attack during an exciting first half.
Rodrigo Muniz threatened three times, including bursting wide after indecision from Bournemouth centre-backs Senesi and Dean Heysen, before an unmarked Sessegnon nodded into the arms of Kepa.
Senesi was shown a yellow card for a foul on Andersen despite winning the ball, and Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno saved Scott's low shot in stoppage time.
Bournemouth manager Iraola replaced Senesi with Zabarni in the second half and almost saw his side double their lead in the 55th minute when Leno denied Tyler Adams a goal.
Fulham manager Silva looked unhappy as he made a triple substitution in the space of around two-and-a-half minutes.
Tom Cairney, Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez all came on, while Sessegnon, who was taken off along with Sander Berge and Muis, appeared to have been substituted in error.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa kept out Alex Iwobi and kept out Sasa Lukic as the west London visitors looked to level the scores.
At the other end of the pitch, VAR ruled that Leno had touched the ball with his fingertips as Evanilson went down in the penalty area awaiting a penalty with 10 minutes left in normal time.
The hosts held on comfortably for seven minutes of added time to secure a long-awaited win – their first at home since a 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest in January – and restore European momentum.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
