Evanilson impresses Andoni Iraola despite spot-kick setback against Chelsea

Andoni Iraola has backed Bournemouth’s record signing Evanilson to bounce back from his penalty woe against Chelsea.

The Cherries suffered an unfortunate 1-0 defeat on Saturday night after Christopher Nkunku scored the only goal of the Premier League game with four minutes left.

Bournemouth created a number of chances against Chelsea and hit the post through Marcus Tavernier and Ryan Christie, but came closest to finding the net when they were awarded a 35th-minute penalty.

Evanilson, who joined last month from Porto in a deal which could rise to £40million, won the spot-kick before his low effort from 12 yards was saved by Robert Sanchez to continue his goalless start to life at Vitality Stadium.

But Iraola insisted: “I think he played very well and I’m happy with his performance.

“I think he helped us a lot in the press, he created the penalty, he had another couple of chances where he finishes wide but he was in the positions and very close to scoring.

“And I will not evaluate him because he missed a penalty or he score a penalty.

“I think he has to give us a lot of things. He is giving us things. Obviously I am sure he wants to score, but I am not going to focus on this with him.”

Evanilson arrived at Bournemouth as the replacement for Dominic Solanke, who scored 21 goals in all competitions last term.

Iraola acknowledged he cannot know for sure how the pressure will impact the 24-year-old, but is confident he will come good.

“I don’t know him probably so much. I am with him just a few weeks but I am very happy with him,” he added.

“He has played four games, three very good games. He was worst against Everton the other day, but the three, for me if he plays like this he will be good and we will be good.”

Chelsea struggled in the first half against Bournemouth but improved after the break when deadline day addition Jadon Sancho was introduced.

Sancho would eventually set up fellow substitute Nkunku for an 86th-minute winner, with Enzo Maresca also bringing on Joao Felix in search of the breakthrough.

The new Blues boss is happy with the wide options at his disposal, explaining: “I said already when we brought in Jadon that the reason why is because we were looking for another winger like Noni (Madueke).

“Noni is doing that on the right side, winning one v one, creating chances, scoring goals and we were looking for the same on our left side with Jadon.

“We already have Mischa (Mudryk) there, Pedro (Neto) is playing there but it’s good to have both wingers – they can give us this kind of option.”