GARY O’Neil’s stint as interim boss sees Cherries remain unbeaten after a draw at Newcastle on Saturday, with the south coast side unbeaten in three Premier League games in a row for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign, when they drew with fellow strugglers Watford and Norwich before defeating Manchester United at the start of November.

An emotional afternoon for some as Cherries came face-to-face with club legend Eddie Howe for the first time after his departure in the summer of 2020, there were plenty of facts and figures stemming from the 1-1 draw.

Here are a few of the more notable statistics:

1051 – Cherries lead the way in attempted pressures in the Premier League. Only Leeds United, who have played one game fewer, average more attempted presses – only just – with 150.33 compared to Cherries’ 150.14.

6 – Jordan Zemura created six chances at the weekend – only Leicester’s James Justin created more, with seven. Cherries’ Zimbabwean left-back picked up a first Premier League assist when he supplied Phil Billing for the opener. Six also represents the amount of saves Neto made, the highest amount of stops from any goalkeeper in the Prem over the weekend.

1 – Saturday marked the first time Eddie Howe crossed paths with Cherries as the opposition. Despite a brief spell at Burnley as a manager, Howe had not previously encountered Cherries as a manager. The fact that his spell at Portsmouth was hampered severely by injury and the fact Cherries did not share a division with their Hampshire neighbours also means Howe never faced his boyhood club as a player either.

300 – Jaidon Anthony was the only Cherry caught offside at the weekend – the 300th offside offence committed by Cherries in the Premier League.

8 – Cherries return of eight points from their opening seven games is their best start to a Premier League season since the 2019-20 campaign, when they picked up 11 points in their opening seven fixtures. In their five previous years in the top-flight, they have only picked up eight points or more from their first seven games in three campaigns – 2016-17 (eight points), 2018-19 (13 points), 2019-20 (11 points.)

1150 – It is a 1150 mile round-trip by car to travel from Bournemouth to Newcastle, meaning the fixture is the longest trip in Premier League history. Cherries have yet to win at St James’ since the 2017-18 campaign, but overall the north-east has been a happy hunting ground in the Premier League, with seven points from five visits. (P5 W2 D1 L2)

44 – Cherries have the lowest amount of shots in the Premier League by some distance. From open play, they have fired off 35 efforts, whilst only adding nine more shots from set pieces. For context, the next lowest amount of shots is 67, with Aston Villa and Crystal Palace both recording 51 attempts from open play, and a further 16 from free-kicks, corners, and penalties.

2 – Philip Billing scored in back-to-back league games for the first time since September 2021. After igniting Cherries’ comeback against Nottingham Forest two weekends ago, Billing put his side in front at St James’ on Saturday. Last season in the Championship, he netted against Cardiff City in a 1-0 win in the Welsh capital, before scoring the following weekend in a 2-1 victory over Luton at the Vitality Stadium.