Bournemouth are still waiting for their first Premier League victory under Marco Rose after Kevin Schade (£6.0m) twice pegged them back in a 2-2 draw with Brentford.
The underlying numbers were (again!) much more encouraging for the Cherries, who racked up 20 shots and 1.76 expected goals (xG).
Marcus Tavernier (£6.1m) continued his excellent start to the campaign, while Schade strengthened his own FPL case with another two goals.
There were also DefCon points everywhere, a costly error from Đorđe Petrović (£4.5m), and another quiet afternoon for Igor Thiago (£7.9m).

BOURNEMOUTH DOMINATE THE NUMBERS
For all the frustration surrounding Bournemouth’s failure to win, there was plenty to like about their attacking display – as has been the case all season.
The Cherries produced 20 attempts, with 10 hitting the target. Brentford managed just eight shots and two on target. Bournemouth also comfortably won the xG battle 1.76 to 0.50.
The rolling xG tells a similar story. Brentford accumulated chances steadily, whereas Bournemouth’s threat increased sharply either side of half-time.

Rose certainly felt his team deserved more.
“I think we do enough to win games. It’s just about the momentum, the situation.” – Marco Rose
The Bournemouth boss also highlighted efficiency in both boxes as an area for improvement. That has become a recurring problem. Bournemouth have now taken the lead in all four of their opening league matches without winning any of them.
TAVERNIER’S STRONG START CONTINUES
One of the biggest FPL positives was Tavernier.
His excellent finish after 52 minutes brought up a third Premier League goal in four appearances this season. He has now struck four times across his last five league matches.
The underlying numbers backed up another lively display. Tavernier registered four shots, three efforts on target and four key passes. He also created two big chances and finished on 0.67 expected goal involvement (xGI).

Rayan (£6.4m) also carried plenty of threat. The Brazilian fired off five attempts and missed a big chance shortly after Brentford’s opener. He threatened again after the break, curling narrowly wide following Alex Scott’s (£6.1m) clever backheel, and finished on 0.41 xGI.
Scott produced an encouraging all-round display himself. The midfielder created four chances, matching Tavernier for the most among Bournemouth players, and finished with 0.24 xGI. His defensive work strengthened the performance further. Scott accumulated 15 DefCons, enough to secure an additional two FPL points.
Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) found the net for the first time this season and registered three attempts before making way after 66 minutes. There was no indication in the available post-match comments that his withdrawal was injury-related.
Meanwhile, Evanilson (£6.0m) collected an assist for Tavernier’s goal. The forward also created three chances and recorded 0.25 expected assists (xA), despite failing to register a shot himself.
“We have to put the game to bed. We should have scored three or four, put it to bed nice and early, and that’s something that we have to look at as the attacking players in the team.” – Marcus Tavernier
SCHADE IN GOOD FORM

Bournemouth dominated the underlying numbers, but Kevin Schade (£6.0m) made his opportunities count.
The German headed Brentford ahead from Yehor Yarmoliuk’s (£4.9m) delivery before capitalising on Petrović’s mistake to score his second. That takes Schade to three Premier League goals in four matches.
“He’s been excellent, the way he’s attacked everything we’ve done, regardless of where he plays, what he gets asked to do with the ball, without the ball, there’s such an honesty to his game.” – Keith Andrews on Kevin Schade
“I felt like it’s been bubbling with him. The goals, you can see the goal he scored against Leeds, the confidence he’s playing with, and today the way he took those two goals again was really nice.” – Keith Andrews on Kevin Schade
Igor Thiago’s (£7.9m) start has been very different. The Brentford forward completed the 90 minutes but offered very little attacking threat and also picked up a booking.
Thiago has now failed to score in each of his opening four Premier League matches, although he did find the net in the cup.
There was also a change on Brentford’s right flank, where Jaidon Anthony (£5.9m) started ahead of Dango Ouattara (£6.4m) against his former club. Anthony struggled to make much of an attacking impact and made way for Ouattara on the hour.
DEFCON POINTS EVERYWHERE
This was also a particularly productive fixture for defensive contributions.
Vitaly Janelt (£5.0m) led the match with 20 DefCons, while Adrien Truffert (£5.5m) followed on 16.
Alex Scott accumulated 15 from midfield, Mamadou Sangaré (£5.7m) reached 13, and Jannik Schuster (£4.5m) finished on 12.
James Hill (£5.5m) and Jaidon Anthony weren’t far behind on 11, while Tyler Adams (£5.0m) and António Silva both reached 10.

Sangaré’s consistency is particularly noteworthy. This was the third time in four Gameweeks that he has collected DefCon points.
There wasn’t much attacking threat to accompany those contributions, although the midfielder did register 0.28 expected assists (xA).
One player who narrowly missed out was Kristoffer Ajer (£4.5m). The Brentford centre-back finished on nine DefCons, leaving him just one short of the additional two points.
Silva offered considerably more at the other end. The Bournemouth centre-back registered two shots and 0.58 xG, passing up good headed opportunities either side of half-time.
He also played the pass into Evanilson in the build-up to Tavernier’s goal and finished on an impressive 0.81 xGI.
PETROVIĆ ERROR PUNISHED
Đorđe Petrović endured an afternoon to forget between the posts.
The Bournemouth goalkeeper could perhaps have done better with Schade’s opening header, but there was no debate about his role in the second. His attempted pass went straight to Schade, who calmly lifted the ball over him to make it 2-2.
The underlying goalkeeping data makes for similarly poor reading, with Petrović recording -1.78 goals prevented.
That makes his place worth monitoring, particularly with Michele Di Gregorio (£4.5m) waiting on the bench. There has been no suggestion from Rose that a change is imminent, however.



