By OkayGoal
Bournemouth’s substitutes turned a deficit into a fourth straight Europa League win in Prague, Daichi Kamada rescued a point for ten-man Crystal Palace in stoppage time, Brighton kept another clean sheet in Spain and Sunderland were booed off after losing to Dinamo Zagreb.
It was a mixed Thursday night for the Premier League’s four clubs in the Europa League and Conference League. Two of them have every reason to feel good about life in Europe. The other two head into the weekend with their managers under more pressure than they were 24 hours earlier.
Here is how each game went, and where it leaves them halfway through the league phase.
Sparta Prague 1-3 Bournemouth: three subs, three goals
Bournemouth made it four wins from four in their first ever European campaign, and Marco Rose can take a lot of the credit. He made eight changes from the weekend win over Leeds United, the side struggled early on, and the three players who won it all started on the bench.
Sparta should have been ahead early when Jonatan Braut Brunes missed a big chance, and Lewis Cook then hit the post with a penalty after Ki-Jana Hoever handled. Ebrima Singhateh made Bournemouth pay in the 35th minute, beating Adam Smith and Cook with one clever piece of footwork before finishing brilliantly.
The lead lasted two minutes. Tobias Guddal pulled down Álvaro Rodríguez and was sent off for a second yellow card, and the game turned from there. Rose sent on Tyler Adams at half-time, and the American equalised 12 minutes after the restart, finishing well after Amine Adli pounced on a mistake in the Sparta defence.
Evanilson, Adrien Truffert, Marcus Tavernier and Rayan all followed off the bench. Evanilson put Bournemouth ahead with nine minutes left, a superb finish from inside the area after Ryan Christie’s pass, and then set up Rayan to make it 3-1 with an effort from just outside the box.
That is seven wins in a row in all competitions. Evanilson now has six goals this season, all of them in his last seven games, which says plenty about how this run has been built. Two days ago we looked at what was at stake for Rose in Prague, and his side delivered again.
Can Palace build on Kamada’s late leveller?
For most of the night at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace looked like losing again. Hoffenheim went ahead after seven minutes when Alexander Prass met Tim Lemperle’s cross with a low shot that slipped under Dean Henderson, a goal the Palace goalkeeper should have kept out.
Henderson did make up for it with a sharp save from Andrej Kramarić’s close-range volley, and Palace slowly found some rhythm before the break. They had long spells of the ball, but Hoffenheim’s deep defence held firm, and things got worse when Adam Wharton was shown a second yellow card for catching Wouter Burger with his arm in an aerial challenge.
Even with ten men, Pierre Sage’s side kept pushing. In stoppage time, Kamada prodded the ball through Oliver Baumann’s legs from close range to snatch a 1-1 draw.
It is a point, but it is not a fix. Palace have won just one of their four Europa League games, sit 21st in the table on five points and are 18th in the Premier League. Liverpool are next at Selhurst Park in Palace’s last league game before the international break, and Jean-Philippe Mateta, who started on Thursday, can’t play in that one after Palace lost their appeal against his red card. Sage’s future is very much under the spotlight.
Getafe 0-1 Brighton: still no goals conceded in Europe
What looked like one of Brighton‘s hardest Conference League trips ended with another win and another clean sheet. Malick Yalcouye headed in Costinha’s knockdown off the underside of the crossbar in the 64th minute, his fourth goal of the season.
Brighton had already hit the woodwork twice through Jaouen Hadjam, against the post in the first half and off the top of the bar early in the second. At the other end, Iván Azón was twice denied by Bart Verbruggen, and the Seagulls never really looked like conceding.
Fabian Hurzeler’s side have two wins and a draw from their three games, are fifth in the Conference League table on seven points and are yet to concede. That was their 11th clean sheet in 16 matches this season, and it ended a run of five away games in a row.
Former Brighton captain Adam Virgo summed it up on TNT Sports: “In the second half they showed tremendous character.” Brentford visit the Amex on Sunday, and Brighton’s next European game is at home to Universitatea Craiova on 26 November.
Why were Sunderland booed off?
The Stadium of Light jeered Sunderland three times on Thursday: after the second goal, at half-time and at the final whistle. Luka Stojković volleyed Dinamo Zagreb ahead in the 22nd minute, and Dion Drena Beljo lifted the ball neatly over Robin Roefs to make it 2-0 in the 39th.
Beljo has now scored 18 goals in 18 games this season, and he is the same striker Hull boss Sergej Jakirović said could score goals like Haaland at Manchester City.
Regis Le Bris made four substitutions at half-time and the second half was much better, with Brian Brobbey and Trai Hume making a difference, but there was no way back. Former Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell, on TNT Sports, said Sunderland are in a competition where “the class is a step above for them at the moment.”
It was Sunderland’s first European defeat of the season, and they are still 11th in the table on seven points thanks to their two opening wins. The league is the bigger worry. They are bottom of the Premier League with only one win, back in August, and Chelsea come to Wearside on Sunday. The BBC understands Le Bris will be given more time, but that game now matters even more.
Where the English clubs stand after four games
| Club | Thursday’s result | Competition | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | Sparta Prague 1-3 Bournemouth | Europa League | 2nd | 12 |
| Sunderland | Sunderland 0-2 Dinamo Zagreb | Europa League | 11th | 7 |
| Crystal Palace | Crystal Palace 1-1 Hoffenheim | Europa League | 21st | 5 |
| Brighton | Getafe 0-1 Brighton | Conference League | 5th | 7 |
Only Benfica sit above Bournemouth in the Europa League, and on goal difference alone, with both sides on 12 points from four games.
Verdict: Bournemouth are the story of the European week
Winning a European away game is hard enough. Winning one after making eight changes, going a goal down and missing a penalty, then letting the bench finish the job, tells you how deep this Bournemouth squad has become under Rose. Seven straight wins is not a fluke run any more.
Brighton are quietly doing exactly what favourites should do, while Palace and Sunderland have the opposite problem: European results that look fine on paper, and league form that keeps dragging their managers back into the headlines. For Sage and Le Bris, Sunday matters far more than Thursday did.