Can Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth reach European football this season?

The Cherries are currently fifth in the Premier League table.

Bournemouth’s 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United indicated that they are on the course of something big this season as they moved to fifth place in the Premier League.

More magic in Manchester 🤩 pic.twitter.com/7JAaijrFUj

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) December 22, 2024

However, this is not the fluke and United are not one of those only big sides in the league to have suffered defeat at the hands of Cherries.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have also failed to secure victory when they have faced Andoni Iraola’s team in the league.

For Bournemouth, it was a statement victory that too it came at Old Trafford. Bournemouth rose to fifth place in the top tier, their highest-ever standing at this point of year, whereas United will be spending Christmas in the bottom half of the league for the first time in their history.

With 17 games played, they have 28 points, which is six more than they had after a comparable number of games the previous season.

The Cherries are only three points outside of the top four and will finish Christmas two spots ahead of Manchester City.

How Iraola has changed Cherries’ playing identity

In June 2023, Iraola was named head coach for a two-year term, succeeding Gary O’Neil.

They have started in striking fashion after leading Bournemouth to their greatest Premier League point total of 48 points the previous season.

The Cherries are in their seventh Premier League season and have defeated Arsenal 2-0 at home, Manchester City 2-1 at home, Tottenham 1-0 at home, and now United in 2024-25.

Where will your team be spending Christmas? 🎄#FestiveFixtures pic.twitter.com/gvP1axTs40

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 23, 2024

But the club also lost some key players and questions were issued if they would be able to replace them, one of the most crucial players was Dominic Solanke, who joined Spurs in the summer.

The Cherries suffered a devastating setback with the departure of Solanke, who scored 19 Premier League goals the previous season. However, still have been one of the clinical sides in the league and have scored in the last ten Premier League games.

Can Bournemouth dream of European football?

Over the years we have witnessed many average top-flight English teams secure a place in European football, last season it was Aston Villa and this campaign could be Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. Cherries are fifth in the standing which means Europa League is guaranteed for now.

But they will have more ambitions which is to qualify for the Champions League next season and they can make it happen as they demonstrated against big sides this season.

They are legitimately demonstrating that they are prepared for any challenge this term and will be willing to take on any side, so this is not a rare occurrence. They will try to continue playing entertaining football till the end of the season.

Though anything might happen with them in the second half of the season is still left, no club will be able to prevent them from securing a spot in European football as long as they can keep up their current level of competence.

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