Justin Kluivert scored his second hat-trick of the season for Bournemouth to put Newcastle United to the sword at St. James’ Park on Saturday.
The Dutchman found the target with a pair of tidy finishes in the opening half either side of a Bruno Guimaraes equaliser. He followed that up with a stunning strike in second-half stoppage time before setting up Milos Kerkez for a golazo of his own.
Kluivert is only the seventh player in Premier League history to score two hat-tricks away from home in a single campaign, having netted three goals against Wolves at Molineux in November.
Justin Kluivert gives ‘lovely’ reaction to Bournemouth hat-trick
“This feels lovely,” he told TNT Sports. “We know how tough it is to play here. To come here with a lot of injuries and dominate like this – hats off to the team.
“I want to help my team out, and be important for the club. Our run is beautiful and we showed we are here to make an impression.”
The 4-1 win extends Bournemouth‘s unbeaten run to 11 games and reduces the gap to Newcastle and the top four to just one point. And Kluivert believes the club can dream of the Uefa Champions League this year.
“At the start of the season, we have a lot of ambitious players in the team, you want to play Europe and we show that,” the 25-year-old said.
“Why not dream big and we never know where we can end up. The Champions League would be very tough but who knows?”
The Cherries host third-placed Nottingham Forest at Dean Court next Saturday with kickoff set for 3pm.
