Evanilson swivels his hips to seal Bournemouth win against 10-man Sunderland

Bournemouth’s and Marco Rose’s wait for a Premier League win is over. Sunderland, locked in the bottom three, are becoming this season’s object lesson in travelling too far too fast.

Sixth and seventh last season, that both teams have struggled domestically while cruising in the Europa League speaks to a continental drift where talent from mid-range but historically grander clubs is readily picked off by Premier League clubs.

Two of Bournemouth’s summer additions came via Benfica and Sevilla, Sunderland bought from Lille and Lyon. None of which is any guarantee of Premier League safety. Once Kevin Danso, on loan from Tottenham, was dismissed in the 17th minute for a blatant denial of a goalscoring opportunity, Sunderland were sunk on the south coast.

With a turnaround tight time from Leiria on Thursday, England’s south coast on Sunday and Poznan in midweek, resources are stretched thinly for Régis Le Bris, at a club where the European dream comes against uncomfortable domestic realities. Talk of a possible sale to new investors has not abated, with a boardroom reshuffle placing Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, the youthful majority owner, in charge of day-to-day operations. And to place in pure football terms, Sunderland have not celebrated a league win since August, and lost four in succession.

Both managers had selected stronger teams for Sunday’s fixtures compared to Thursday’s. Five changes for Sunderland from Torreense, with Granit Xhaka restored, spelled out Le Bris’s priorities, as did the selection of James Hill, Adrien Truffert and Rayan as Rose likewise made five alterations from beating Sturm Graz at home.

Xhaka’s early mistake prefaced the jet-lagged, error strewn performance that followed Sunderland’s first European away match since 1973. Bournemouth began as Rose demanded, high-press from the get-go, vertical when possible. After Lewis Cook dabbed the ball forward, Evanilson, restored to the line-leading striker’s role, seized on a collective muddle between Danso and Omar Alderete. The Brazilian’s reputation for unselfishness was deepened by his next choice of action. Instead of shooting, he laid up a diving Marcus Tavernier to head home.

Danso’s exit swiftly followed. Evanilson escaped beyond the dallying defender and clumsiness served as no excuse. Craig Pawson, the referee, and his team, could reach no decision other than sending the Austrian for an early sachet of shower gel. A goal up, a man up represented a challenge to Bournemouth’s presence of mind; they had previously conceded nine points from winning positions. First-half chances piled up, Robin Roefs asked to bail out bungling defenders on repeated occasions. There was audible and visible squabbling within the Sunderland ranks over the blame for Rayan and Evanilson enjoying such space.

With pressure piling on, the season lurching, Le Bris might argue he can only fight with the resources available to him. Brian Brobbey, on the bench in Portugal after injury on international duty, was missing altogether. Timur Tutierov, 21, last season loaned to Exeter, played as an increasingly lonesome striker, chasing autumnal shadows before a merciful substitution before the hour. That a Danso header was Sunderland’s final attempt on goal of the first half said it all about the direction of travel.

Rose, who revealed this week he had binge-watched Sunderland ’Til I Die on Netflix, kicked every ball on the sidelines. The German’s need for three points was implicit. Patience has been a virtue of the Bournemouth project, but with the Vitality Stadium modernising fast, fans sitting in new-build corner stands as part of renovations, relegation battles cannot be countenanced.

The second goal came with a collective sigh of relief, and via more Sunderland benevolence. Evanilson, given nobody else to pass to by Alderete’s brain-fogged back-pass, supplied a hip swivel Rudolf Nureyev might have been proud of to sit Roefs down and slot into an empty net. A popular goal for a popular player, one of many signings the Bournemouth back office have been successful in making.

Bournemouth could and should have scored more, raining 29 shots on Sunderland’s goal by the 70th minute, including Rayan’s header being hacked from the line. If thoughts were understandably drifting to Thursday and Milan, seven-times European champions, coming to Dorset in the Europa League, Rose would not allow his players to be distracted.

After Sunderland enjoyed a late spell of the game that at last had mackem visitors in full voice, Rose’s team played out the game with admirable calm, Rayan’s dancing feet to the fore as the ball was retained. On this evidence, two clubs facing similar challenges are on very different trajectories.