Justin Kluivert continued his recent hot streak to open the scoring at Vitality Stadium, netting his fifth goal in three top-flight games in the ninth minute.

The Cherries moved further ahead shortly after the restart with Kluivert turning provider this time, clipping a delicate ball into the box for Ouattara to loop a header over Matz Sels. 

Ouattara then grabbed his second six minutes later, skipping past Murillo before finding the bottom right-hand corner to ruthlessly punish Nicolas Dominguez's poor pass.

The Burkina Faso forward then completed his treble three minutes from time, reacting quickest to substitute Marcus Tavernier's effort that was spilled into his path by Sels.

But the scoring was not finished there. Antoine Semenyo grabbed his seventh goal of the season in first-half stoppage time to add some gloss to an impressive all-round display.

The triumph moves Andoni Iraola’s side up to sixth on the standings, while Forest remains third but now sits nine points behind leader Liverpool.

Iraola said Ouattara's hat-trick had been a long time coming.

"I think he has been very good, all the games, the four he has played as a number nine. I think he's playing really well," Iraola said.

"He's been a threat, plus he helps with the link-up play. We can use him in many positions.

"It was a great result. We knew we were facing a very good team on a very good run. Scoring first was key. Most of the last games they have been winning from the first half.

"The goal at the beginning helped us and made the game look better for us. I think we are not going to change. We are taking the games game by game. We have Liverpool next. We are thin on numbers, so we try to prepare players for that game.

"Still there are a lot of games to play. I will not change the approach we are taking.

"I hope they [the fans] are enjoying themselves. It's always difficult when you are in the Premier League. You are facing the best teams in the country."

For Nuno Espirito Santo and Forest, their eight-game winning run in the Premier League came to a halt on the south coast.

While still in the top four, victories for Newcastle United and Bournemouth themselves have seen the race for the UEFA Champions League places become even tighter.

Nuno bemoaned his side's inability to defend against its opponent's five-star attack, suggesting his team looked fragile after an impressive recent run of form.

"Nobody expected a game like this. Bournemouth were better than us. We did a lot of things wrong. When we are blocked and compact and give spaces, it is harder," he said.

"We are unbalanced, and we didn't defend well. In the second half, we tried to correct things and put things right, but we didn't react. The second half was very bad.

"We have to realise the things we did well until now, we have to do them. When we don't do those things, we are a very fragile team.

"Football is our life. Today is not a happy day, of course."