Generally speaking, soccer teams don’t get too worried when an opposing attacker picks the ball up 80 yards from goal. But then, most of them don’t have to square up against Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo every weekend.

The Ghana international has been key to Bournemouth’s excellent start to the Premier League campaign – the club have taken a better-than-expected 10 points from a possible 15 after a raft of summer sales, despite a five-game opening slate that was the second-hardest in the league, according to Opta.

Semenyo’s season-opening brace against Liverpool turned heads, but his continued performances in the Cherries’ four-game unbeaten run since have kept their attention. The only Premier League players with more progressive carries forward ending with a scoring chance are Everton’s Jack Grealish and Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo.

And beyond all of this, at a more basic level, he’s a joy to watch. When Semenyo gets the ball – wherever that might be – the geometry of the pitch seems to shift to his will. Passing lanes bend toward him or for him, defenders lose their balance, and every Bournemouth counter seems to build to the same inevitability: Semenyo running into open space, ball at his feet, opposing defenders left guessing whether to retreat or dive in. And either choice is frequently the wrong one.

Semenyo is the epitome of the elegant, sharp, progressive counterattacking forward we’ve all grown to love. He’s a shark balling out for a minnow. A bored commentator’s weekend lifeline. A neutral’s dream.

This was of course all on display against Liverpool. His two late goals unsettled the Reds, even if they weren’t enough to best the champions in the end. (Bournemouth ended up conceding two late goals of their own). But it was the second goal that showed why he’s different.

After a broken Liverpool attack, Semenyo received the ball deep in Bournemouth territory, a part of the pitch where many forwards would simply try to clear their lines. Instead, Semenyo sprinted into the space gifted to him by an overcommitted Liverpool midfield. The ball never left his stride, always close enough to invite panic, never loose enough to give hope, as he sprinted upfield at Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté. Both defenders tried to corral Semenyo, angling their bodies to funnel him wide or force a rash shot.

Instead, Semenyo used his opponents’ bodies – and their hesitation – against them, twisting them into angles they didn’t want to be in, or even knew existed. By the time he reached the edge of the area, both centre-backs were turned inside out, while goalkeeper Alisson Becker stood rooted to the ground as Semenyo rolled a tidy finish past him.

What stands out isn’t just the goal itself but the way Semenyo created it. He didn’t need a stepover, a trick, or a shoulder barge to break open one of the league’s most experienced back lines. He simply ran at them, letting the backpedalling defenders reveal their own weaknesses with every step. This is Semenyo’s artistry: he doesn’t beat players in isolation so much as force them to beat themselves, their bodies turned against them by his timing, balance, vision, and stride.

Again, it’s important to note that the data supports the eye test, and that Semenyo’s direct play is nothing new. Last season, he ranked in the top 10 in the Premier League for both progressive carries and progressive runs – an analytics junky’s dream. His profile is almost perfectly built for the modern game: receive, turn, carry, destabilize. And yet even those numbers don’t quite capture how it feels in real time, the sense that every touch is measured, every stride controlled, every defender pushed into a decision they can’t win.

Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth has given him the ideal stage. They don’t need Semenyo to operate in the suffocating moments bigger clubs so often face. (Low blocks. Time wasting. More low blocks. More time wasting.) Instead, they lean into a pressing, counterattacking identity that leaves grass to run into and channels to exploit. In that system, Semenyo is a pure fit. His runs stretch the field, his carries turn defensive shape into disarray, and his decisive finishing punishes hesitation.

The south coast has been blessed with big talents before, but Semenyo feels different – a player whose style and numbers put him in the shop window more or less automatically.

For now, though, the miracle is real: one of the Premier League’s most distinctive forwards, running loose at the Vitality, turning ordinary games into good ones and good games into unforgettable ones. Semenyo is not just Bournemouth’s difference-maker. He’s one of the league’s great joys, and worth savoring in the context of one of the new season’s pleasant surprises.