Antoine Semenyo makes difference as Bournemouth topple Manchester City | Premier League

Manchester City couldn't overcome their pain threshold. As a run of 32 Premier League games unbeaten came to an end, they creaked. Aging, tired legs had to chase – in vain – an opponent full of energy and belief, so rarely seen against the series champions. This time Pep Guardiola's team failed.

Bournemouth were brilliant, the win was fully deserved, Antoine Semenyo was brilliant. He relegated Kyle Walker to the doghouse, City's captain left with tainted blood. “It feels great,” said the star man. “The best team in the world!”

To be even-handed with Walker, he had heeded his manager's request that the walking injured should stand up when his fitness was well below desired levels. City's starting XI bordered on the fantastic, but masked the depth of their loss list. Even Kevin De Bruyne, who had not been seen since September, and Savinho, who left Tottenham on a stretcher in tears in midweek, were on the bench. Neither of them turned on, even when the emergency was imminent.

“We knew we couldn’t keep up with the intensity,” lamented Guardiola. “They are so aggressive. They scored early and they could have scored earlier.”

Bournemouth were flying in the competition from kick-off. Before the first goal, Ederson had already made a spectacular double save from Semenyo and then Justin Kluivert. Milos Kerkez, overlapping on the left, soon stormed past Phil Foden and put Semenyo in the basket. Josko Gvardiol was dismissed as the Ghanaian's spin and shot clearly beat Ederson.

The pressure remained, City's midfield changes compressed by the energy of their opponents. Arms folded, Guardiola soiled his black leather brogues as he paced the sidelines. At his side, Andoni Iraola, the Basque coach whose career has made him a leading contender to replace the Catalan, played every ball as his team beat the champions here after beating Arsenal. “I lost to him so many times,” Iraola said of Guardiola. “You have to enjoy it because you know it won’t happen often.”

Victory created history; Bournemouth had never beaten a City team in their 21 previous meetings. The last time a point was collected was in 1999, in the third tier, Joe Royle City manager Shaun Goater was their centre-forward.

How did it happen? Answer: Strength and skill in defense, midfield and attack, plus a good performance from substitute goalkeeper Mark Travers. Kerkez saved a last-man block as Bernardo Silva left the goal wide open before Bournemouth ended the first half with a seemingly endless succession of passes. Few teams dominate City in this way.

“You have to suffer, stay compact,” said Iraola. “We suffered after a good game. We know there are better teams than us, but it’s not easy to play here.”

In the second half, Bournemouth got off to another quick start. Semenyo took a long ball and Evanilson forced another save from Ederson. At some point there were signs of a possible revival of the city. Foden missed the target and tempers flared when Lewis Cook, Bournemouth's best batsman, dismissed Erling Haaland with one behind.

The fact that Bournemouth cut traffic after the hour suggested one-way traffic, only for a switch to trip in devastating fashion. Semenyo shot – once again – past Walker and fed Kerkez, whose low cross found striker Evanilson, who fired the ball into the goal. “I’m working on crosses and improving,” said Kerkez. His recent performances make him an important young player.

Meanwhile, Walker, who was closest to his manager, constantly received curt advice. He was eventually switched to central defender. “Kyle, 18 days, 19 days without training, one training session with us and today was the day,” said Guardiola and then alleviated the Semenyo problems.

Bournemouth's lead might have increased when Marcus Tavernier hit the inside of the post, but could they hold on now? Travers failed to keep out Gvardiol's header from Ilkay Gündogan's cross, creating 10 minutes of tension. Jérémy Doku's dribbling came into play and the Belgian forced a nice low save from Travers.

Six minutes later there was chaos, Travers saved from Haaland, the ball somehow didn't cross the line when Haaland hit the woodwork with his follow-up shot. Finally, Foden hit a shot wide of the goal. The champions – ragged, exhausted, speechless – could find nothing. And Bournemouth could celebrate.