Both teams finished with 10 men but only one found a goal when Norwich City beat Bournemouth in a relegation six-pointer at Carrow Road on Saturday.
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Teemu Pukki scored from the spot to give the Canaries some hope and increase the Cherries’ despair.
Steve Cook was sent off for Bournemouth in the 31st minute, with Ben Godfrey leveling the field in the 76th.
Norwich now has 17 points, six back of the safe places, while 19th place Bournemouth stays level on 20.
Three things we learned
1. Pitch side monitor used to upgrade card: The Premier League told the refs to check the pitch side monitors on possible red card offenses, and it worked. Ben Godfrey cleverly disguised his ugly tackle by looking away from the contact, only earning a yellow card. The video monitors told the story, though, and Paul Tierney wasn’t shy to make the right call and turn the yellow into a red.
2. Bournemouth in the worst of ways: Eddie Howe’s slumping Cherries played down a man for 45 minutes, and couldn’t make anything of the reprieve handed them by Godfrey’s awful tackle. There was proper desperation from the Cherries, but also never a feeling that Bournemouth would come back.
3. Steve Cook at full stretch is pretty impressive (and illegal): Referee Paul Tierney was almost laughing as he gave Cook a red card for his excellent “save” to push a ball off the post.
UNBELIEVABLE 😂 pic.twitter.com/CxFNi4AINQ
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) January 18, 2020
Man of the Match: Emiliano Buendia is Norwich City’s shining light. If the Canaries go down, he’s going to be the subject of a recruitment more like relegated stars Idrissa Gana Gueye and Andrew Robertson before him.
Pukki couldn’t get purchase on an earlier chance, but got the job done from the spot.
Cook handled a ball in the box and was shown red, with VAR holding up the clear penalty.
The Finnish striker had no problem making it 1-0.
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Todd Cantwell was very busy as usual for the Canaries, passing well but also blasting a shot into the upper reaches of the stadium.
Norwich was dominant, outshooting Bournemouth 15-3 when another moment of madness had both teams with 10 players. Godfrey’s late challenge on Callum Wilson sent Tierney to the monitor for a VAR-aided straight red card.