Sweet success: A ripe time for Bournemouth's Cherries
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Sweet success: A ripe time for Bournemouth's Cherries

You can forgive supporters of AFC Bournemouth if they are feeling pretty good about life at the moment.

The Cherries might only be 14th in the Premier League table but that is several places higher than most of their fans would have expected after a poor start to the season.

The icing on the cake was the 3-0 demolition of Manchester United last weekend, the first time ever Bournemouth have beaten the Red Devils at Old Trafford.

In fact, it could have been 4-0 were it not for one of those irritating handball rulings by VAR.

The club's motto is "Together, Anything is Possible" and they certainly proved that with last Saturday's result.

The unexpected victory means Bournemouth have won four of their last five games earning 13 points out of 15 in the process.

Simply distancing themselves from the relegation battle, even if it might only be temporary, is in itself cause for celebration.

Since Bournemouth were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 2015, they have spent six of the last eight seasons in the top flight and in just about every season they have begun as relegation favourites.

Quite what has turned things around this season is hard to pin down. Spanish manager Andoni Iraola must take much of the credit considering the wretched start to his time at the club with no wins in the first nine matches.

Bournemouth's victory over United was no fluke.

They outplayed their opponents and were brilliantly led by Dominic Solanke who scored the opening goal and enjoyed one of his best games for the club.

But it wasn't just Solanke, the whole team played well including fellow goal-scorers Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi.

Former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright was hugely impressed commenting: "Defensively, midfield and upfront there was only one team with a plan and that was Bournemouth."

Wright had particular praise for Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie.

For Cherries fans, it was almost too good to be true, one commenting: "One of the best performances I've seen. Glorious!"

It is hard to imagine that as recently as the 2008-9 season the club was in dire straits in the basement of League Two with minus 17 points.

But they miraculously avoided relegation in what became known as "The Great Escape".

The following season they won promotion to League One, the first of three promotions under the guidance of Eddie Howe, who eventually took Bournemouth to the Premier League.

Arguably the biggest problem facing Bournemouth when they take on Luton Town today is overconfidence.

After the euphoria of Old Trafford they must not forget the Hatters will be fighting for their lives at the Vitality Stadium.

While talking of unfancied clubs grabbing the headlines it would be remiss not to mention Fulham who followed up the previous week's 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest with another 5-0 trouncing of West Ham.

This is quite a turnaround for a team that only managed 10 goals in their opening 12 games.

It was particularly pleasing to see Raul Jimenez score again as he shows real signs of regaining confidence after his horrific head injury three years ago.

The Mexico international has now scored four goals in five games while Fulham have netted 15 in their last four matches.

The last time they scored more than three goals in four successive games was back in 1961.

Just how much the Cottagers have improved, we will learn today when they take on what could be a slightly deflated Newcastle United at St James Park.

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