Nottingham Forest come crashing down to earth with Bournemouth demolition | OneFootball

Bournemouth comprehensively won the battle of the European gatecrashers as a hat-trick from Dango Ouattara and strikes from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo demolished Nottingham Forest 5-0.

In-form Forest had won seven of their last eight matches to climb into in the Champions League places, but they were completely overpowered by Andoni Iraola’s free-flowing Cherries side.

When these sides fought out a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season, few would have predicted both would be in the European shake-up – or, in Forest’s case, an outside bet for the title – by the end of January.

Forest can probably forget about catching leaders Liverpool now, fun though it was while it lasted. But their fellow Premier League upstarts Bournemouth are now on the brink of joining them in the top four after registering a fifth win in six matches, while stretching their unbeaten record to 11, with a scintillating display.

They went ahead after only nine minutes when Kluivert collected the ball, from a Cherries throw-in, just inside his own half. He spun away from a challenge on the halfway line and, with Forest’s defenders backing off, strode forward. The Dutchman – brimming with confidence following his hat-trick in the 4-1 win at Newcastle last weekend – was allowed to get to within 20 yards of goal and pinged a superb shot low beyond the dive of Matz Sels.

It was Kluivert’s sixth goal in his last four matches and his 12th of the season.

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Dango Ouattara earned the match ball with a superb hat-trick (Getty Images)

Forest almost hit back immediately when Ryan Yates tried one from long range but Kepa Arrizabalaga tipped the ball around his right-hand post.

But Bournemouth were a menace every time they went forward and Ryan Christie saw a swerving shot blocked by Sels before the Forest keeper had to tip Semenyo’s effort wide.

Forest threatened briefly at the start of the second half with Kepa tipping a Nikola Milenkovic header over the crossbar.

But in the 55th minute the Cherries doubled their lead in style. A clever chip from Milos Kerkez sent Kluivert scampering down the left, and when he reached the byline he clipped the ball to the far post from where Ouattara looped his header back across goal and over Selz.

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Justin Kluivert added another goal to his impressive recent tally (AFP via Getty Images)

Moments later Kluivert had the ball in the net again, but a VAR check showed Ouattara was offside as the duo played a one-two inside the box.

But they did move three ahead within a minute when Ouattara chased Tyler Adams’ beautifully-weighted pass, coolly turned inside centre-half Murillo and clipped the ball home.

Ouattara completed his hat-trick by prodding in number four after Sels spilt Marcus Tavernier’s drive, and Semenyo threaded the fifth into the far corner in stoppage time to wrap up another statement win for the surprise package from the south coast.