December didn’t see any slowing down of the football calendar in England and the Premier League stormed through the festive period, with games on Christmas eve, Boxing day and the new years period. In this time, several games were scattered through with some midweek fixtures, and a few key results that could eventually have a large impact on the overall standings come the end of the campaign.

This months NextGoalWinner player of the month winner has had a prolific month, claiming plaudits for his individual performances in a team that have turned around their fortunes under their new manager and finally showing fans why the decision was made to make the managerial switch this summer.

Dominic Solanke has bagged 6 goals in 6 games* for Bournemouth as they picked up great results against Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Fulham, drawing with Aston Villa and only failing to pick up points in their last game of the year against Tottenham. Helping lift Bournemouth into 12th to end the year, they look comfortably mid-table despite concerns in the change to bring in Iraola to replace O’Neil in the summer, but it’s a decision that has paid off for the Cherries. Solanke continuing this form into the latter stages of the season may well see him complete with Watkins and Toney for the backup England spot, but let’s not get carried away just yet.

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*Solanke also scored in the abandoned 1-1 draw with Luton Town which has been nullified due to the whole game being replayed at a later point in the new year.

Match By Match

December 3rd: Bournemouth 2-2 Aston Villa – Despite Aston Villa being on a great run this season, Bournemouth signalled their intention to not be overpowered by the in-form visitors, and opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes. They were pegged back to 1-1 shortly afterwards, however in the second half, Solanke opened his account for the month as he bagged Bournemouth’s second. They couldn’t hold on for all 3 points however, as potential Euro 2024 rival for a place Ollie Watkins scored the equaliser for Villa in the 90th minute. Although the 3 points were lost, Bournemouth would have likely taken a point at the start of the day and so they can’t be too disheartened. For Solanke, along with his first goal of the month, he also managed a 90% pass accuracy, 75% shot accuracy, an individual xG of 1.31 and 7 defensive actions. A solid start and result in December for Solanke and for Bournemouth.

December 6th: Crystal Palace 0-2 Bournemouth – Bournemouth’s impressive month continued with a solid away win against Crystal Palace. As Senesi opened the scoring in the first half, the win was secured late in the game with substitute Moore grabbing the second to prevent a similar result as the Villa draw. This was arguably Solanke’s quietest game as he failed to get on the scoresheet, was replaced inn the 88th minute by the second scorer Kieffer Moore, and generally had a quiet evening as he managed just 2 shots (1 blocked and 1 on target), had an xG of 0.23 and was dealt with well by the Palace defence.

December 9th: Manchester United 0-3 Bournemouth – From a quiet evening in the Palace victory, to a fantastic showing in the away win over Manchester United, as Solanke opened the scoring inside the first 5 minutes, and Bournemouth never looked back or slowed down against a woeful United side. Solanke was a real handful in this impressive victory that really brought the attention to Bournemouth’s impressive performances in recent times, and he was a leading force in this. He managed 5 shots, won 8 duels against the makeshift United defence, and was an ever-present danger for the away side as they really added to United’s misery and their impressive run continued.

December 23rd: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Bournemouth – After the abandonment of the Luton Town game due to the unfortunate incident that took place, Bournemouth had a chance to continue their solid run, in what was undoubtedly the strongest showing from Solanke, as he bagged a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest which included a last minute winner as he claimed all 3 points for his side in the 94th minute. Again proving to be on a terrific run of form, this was definitely the performance of the month for Solanke as Bournemouth remained unbeaten. He managed to bag his 3 goals despite a rather low xG of 0.73, managed 6 shots (3 on target, 1 blocked), won 8 duels and created 1 chance. Despite Forest almost getting a point, Bournemouth was fairly dominant throughout, especially given Forest’s red card in the first half, and the clinical nature of Solanke’s goals ensured the 3 points were secured and Bournemouth could go into Christmas day with a great run of results.

December 26th: Bournemouth 3-0 Fulham – Despite the often surprising nature of some Boxing Day games, Bournemouth looked like they hadn’t missed a step from their last few outings, as they dominated against Fulham, with Solanke tucking away a penalty midway through the second half to make it 6 goals in the month for the 26 year old. With 100% shot accuracy, 83% pass accuracy, 1.01 xG, 100% tackles won and 3 shots, Solanke had one of his strongest statistical performances of the month as Bournemouth made light work of Marco Silva’s Fulham.

December 31st: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Bournemouth – On New Years Eve, Bournemouth had their first slip up of the month, as they struggled against an up and down Spurs side plagued by injury. Solanke again had a quiet game as Tottenham took control of the game (especially at 2-0), and despite the late consolation goal for Bournemouth, there wasn’t really any clear chances for Solanke. Iraola did set his team up to come and play against Spurs and they weren’t shy of the ball by any means, however Solanke has proven that he can be clinical when given the right opportunities, but it just didn’t come off for him in this one and Bournemouth suffered their first defeat of the month. Despite this disappointing end to the year, Solanke proved in his previous outings that he was more than worthy of the POTM award, and with talk turning to the England Euro selection for the summer, a continued run like this will surely give Southgate a decision to be making.