The hosts boosted their giant-killing credentials as they secured a third home victory on the bounce, having beaten Arsenal last time out.

Semenyo got Bournemouth off the mark inside 10 minutes as he turned to fire in at the far post from the centre of the box, before Evanilson doubled the lead after the restart.

Josko Gvardiol gave the visitors a consolation goal with a brilliant header at the back post on 82 minutes but it was too little too late.

While Erling Haaland hit the post and Phil Foden fired just wide in a frantic stoppage-time, Bournemouth secured all three points and left Pep Guardiola's man to travel back north empty-handed.

City dropped down to second and failed to take advantage of Arsenal’s earlier 1-0 defeat to Newcatle United, while Bournemouth has moved up to eighth.

The defeat brought City's 32-game Premier League unbeaten run to an end. It has lost successive matches in all competitions for the first time since September 2023.

Guardiola admitted City "could not handle" the intensity of Bournemouth.

"We knew we couldn't match the intensity. We have talked about it. It was an open game. We had chances at the end but I congratulate Bournemouth for the victory," he said.

"The 50-50 balls in the middle, the duels, they play this type of game. They are so aggressive. They had six, seven days to prepare. They have physicality and speed, but you have to win these types of situations.

"We have few players with a lot of minutes and a lot of players with no minutes to the balance is a bit uncomfortable. We played good against Spurs but today we could not handle their intensity that they had and that's why we lost the game.

"We had real good moments at the start of the second half and after that it was difficult to swallow as we were good. After we scored we had momentum and chances but couldn't score [again]."

It was an entirely different story for the hosts, who registered a third home victory on the bounce, after defeating City's title rival Arsenal in October.

"It was a great game. We did everything we could. We needed our very best performance and not the greatest game [from City] and that happened. It is very good to beat City and even better to beat them deservedly," Cherries boss Andoni Iraola said.

"It is very difficult. They are a great team. They have amazing subs and you have to suffer, stay compact. We suffered after a good game. We had the chance to finish it and not suffer too much at the end, but now we have to enjoy it.

“We know there are better teams than us but it is not easy to play here and we have to keep this level so everyone knows that when they come here it will not be an easy game."