Evanilson has scored in five consecutive Premier League matches, and the fifth of them was the least graceful of the lot. Five minutes into Bournemouth's visit to Portman Road, Christian Walton collected a backpass from Dara O'Shea, dropped a shoulder to go past the Brazilian, and lost the ball. Evanilson rolled it into an empty net and jogged away. Bournemouth won 2-1 and have now won four league games in a row.
No Bournemouth player had ever scored in five straight top-flight games before. Evanilson also has nine goal involvements this season, five goals and four assists, which puts him level with Erling Haaland at the top of the division. Seven goals in his last eight appearances in all competitions means his best season tally, the 25 he managed for Porto in 2023-24, is no longer out of reach.
Two goals built from Ipswich mistakes
The second was almost a carbon copy of the first in its origin. A minute after the interval Abdoul Ouattara played a loose backpass, Evanilson pounced again, and his low cutback was not dealt with. Ryan Christie angled a shot towards goal and Leif Davis turned it into his own net off his chest. Two goals, two giveaways, both at the start of a half.
Ipswich did get a way back in. Lewis Cook brought down Ouattara and Jack Clarke tucked away the penalty on 73 minutes. Julio Enciso had two free-kicks in promising positions and hit the target with neither. Marco Rose's side saw the game out without much alarm and climbed to seventh. It was their eighth win in all competitions.
The clean sheet Ipswich cannot find
Gary O'Neil has a defensive problem that is no longer a blip. Ipswich have gone 29 consecutive top-flight matches without a clean sheet, and this season only Manchester United share their record of not managing one at all. Being caught cold at the start of both halves by the same kind of error is the part that will have irritated him most.
There was one thing to hold onto. Clarke's penalty was Ipswich's fifth goal from a substitute this season, more than any other Premier League side, which suggests O'Neil is reading games well once they are underway. Reading them before kick-off is the issue. Ipswich sit 14th.
Efficiency over elegance
Rose will not mind how any of it looked. Bournemouth closed down, waited for the error, and took it twice, which is a perfectly respectable way to win a football match away from home. Evanilson's running without the ball set up both goals, and he was still sharp enough late on to keep Ipswich's defenders honest.
The Cherries go into the international break on a run that nobody saw coming in August, and with a centre-forward in the form of his career.
Match facts: Ipswich Town 1-2 Bournemouth, Portman Road, Sunday 8 November. Evanilson 5, Leif Davis own goal shortly after half-time; Clarke pen 73. Bournemouth's fourth straight league win takes them seventh; Ipswich are 14th and have gone 29 top-flight games without a clean sheet.
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