Bournemouth midfielder, Justin Kluivert, delivered a stunning performance, scoring a hat-trick to lead his side to an emphatic 4-1 victory over Newcastle United, the former club of his father, Patrick Kluivert.
The win, achieved in Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off, snapped Newcastle’s six-game league winning streak.
The result vaulted Bournemouth to sixth place on 37 points, trailing fifth-placed Chelsea on goal difference, while Newcastle remained fourth with 38 points ahead of the weekend’s remaining fixtures.
Bournemouth set the tone early, forcing Martin Dubravka into action with a sharp save from Dango Outtara in the fourth minute.
Two minutes later, Kluivert capitalized on the visitors’ high press, which disrupted Newcastle’s rhythm.
After winning the ball in the attacking third, Antoine Semenyo found Kluivert, who slotted the ball past Dubravka to open the scoring.
Newcastle, buoyed by their home fans, responded in the 25th minute. Captain Bruno Guimaraes expertly navigated space around the penalty area, heading home Lewis Hall’s corner to level the game.
However, Bournemouth refused to relent, and Kluivert restored their lead before halftime.
The Cherries’ pressing game continued to stifle Newcastle’s attack, with Alexander Isak, who had netted in eight consecutive league games, unable to make an impact.
Outtara seemed to have extended Bournemouth’s advantage just past the hour mark, but his goal was disallowed as the ball was deemed to have gone out of play during the build-up.
Undeterred, Bournemouth kept their defensive shape and limited Newcastle to long-range efforts.
Kluivert capped his scintillating display in stoppage time with a sublime third goal, curling the ball beautifully past Dubravka to secure his hat-trick.
It was a moment of poetic irony, given his father’s solitary league goal at St. James’ Park during his time with Newcastle in the 2004/05 season.
Defender Milos Kerkez added the finishing touch moments later, unleashing a powerful strike to seal the victory and extend Bournemouth’s unbeaten run to 10 league games under manager Andoni Iraola.
Reflecting on the game, Kluivert, clutching the match ball, said, “Our run is also beautiful, you know? And that’s what we showed today, that we’re here to make an impression, Bournemouth. So yeah, a lovely, lovely win today.”
He continued with an optimistic outlook on the season, “I’m an ambitious person, we’ve got a lot of ambitious players in the team… we want to play Europe, we want to be the best that we can. And I think we show that also, so why not? Why not dream big? And let’s see where we can end up.”
