Rayan's winner against Fulham boosted Bournemouth's hopes of securing European football for next season with a hard-fought Premier League victory between two 10-man teams.

The Brazilian teenager struck early in the second half with a drilled effort from 20 yards after being teed up by Adam Smith.

By that stage both teams had lost a player to red cards following reviews by the video assistant referee.

Bournemouth were the first to be reduced to 10 men when Ryan Christie lunged in on Timothy Castagne in the 39th minute.

Christie was originally shown a yellow card by referee Andy Madley, but that was upgraded to red after he was summoned to the screen to check the replay.

Fulham's man advantage only lasted a few minutes however, as Joachim Andersen was dismissed deep into first-half added time, again after a VAR review following a similar challenge on Adrien Truffert.

Bournemouth adjusted to being down to 10 men better than Fulham, with Junior Kroupi firing an effort against the crossbar shortly before Rayan struck.

Fulham had their moments as they chased an equaliser, with Djordje Petrovic having to produce an excellent save to push over Kevin's swirling effort before Josh King struck the underside of the crossbar deep in added time.

But Bournemouth held firm as they strengthened their position in sixth. They are two points clear of Brighton, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, and four ahead of Brentford in eighth.

Fulham are 11th, seven points behind Bournemouth with two games remaining.

Bournemouth have never played in Europe but not only is that looking increasingly likely for next term, it could even be Champions League football.

They are three points behind Aston Villa in fifth - albeit having played a game more - but are the side finishing the season in form, with this their fourth win in their last five Premier League games.

Liverpool, who face a tricky game at Villa and then a home game against in-form Brentford, are also still within reach.

The Cherries have a tough test next with a home game against Manchester City but that is followed by a final-day trip to Nottingham Forest, who could well be mathematically safe from relegation by then.

The key to Bournemouth's strong finish to the campaign has been the form of Rayan, who has now scored three goals in his last three Premier League games.

His goal was the 56th goal either scored or assisted by a teenager in the Premier League this season - the most in a campaign since 2006-07 (58).

Only Liverpool - with Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen to the fore - in 1994-95 (23), 1997-98 (18) and 1998-99 (18) have scored more goals via teenagers in a Premier League season than Bournemouth's 17 this term.

However this win also highlighted how much the Cherries will miss manager Andoni Iraola.

The Spaniard will leave the club in the summer and he showed great game management at Craven Cottage as the visitors adapted better to being a man down, rarely looking troubled by Fulham aside from the late King chance.

Fulham manager Marco Silva had acknowledged before this game that they had to win every match in their pursuit of European football for next season.

Their fixtures will have given them reason to be optimistic, with home games against the Cherries and Newcastle, as well as an away fixture at relegated Wolves.

They shaded things when both teams had a full complement of players on the pitch - with Andersen striking the crossbar - but following the two dismissals they rarely threatened.

Sixth is now out of reach for Fulham but as things stand seventh will secure a place in the Conference League next term.

That does seem unlikely for Silva's side though, as they will need to win both their remaining games and hope for favourable results elsewhere to finish in that position.

Fulham next travel to Wolves on Sunday, 17 May (15:00 BST), while Bournemouth host Manchester City on Tuesday, 19 May (19:30 BST).