AFC Bournemouth is under a lot of pressure to start playing better, as they’re still without any points in the new season of the Premier League. A good chance to win at least one point is the duel with Brighton on Friday.
Both sides seem as big candidates for relegation, so this duel has a lot of importance. The clash is not just winning points, but about stopping your rival from getting any. Because of this, it’s fair to assume that the clash is going to be entertaining.
AFC Bournemouth vs. Brighton
Three-Way: 1: AFC Bournemouth +129; X: +243 Draw; 2: Brighton +275
Spread -0.5: AFC Bournemouth +125; Brighton -130
Total +2.5: Over +120; Under -123
AFC BOURNEMOUTH
After four rounds of the new season of the Premier League, AFC Bournemouth is still without any points. This team is one of the biggest candidates for relegation and if they want to avoid it, they need to start playing better as soon as possible. They definitely do have the quality to move up on the table, perhaps not as high as last season. This team ended the 2016/2017 Premier League season on the 9th spot!
Achieving something similar this season seems very unlikely. Still, to be fair to Bournemouth, they did have a tough schedule so far, especially in the previous two rounds, when they played against Manchester City and Arsenal. It’s needless to say that they lost both of those matches with.
However, they were very close to taking a point from the duel with the Sky Blues. AFC Bournemouth played very well in that game and if it wasn’t for Sterling’s goal in the 7th minute of the stoppage time, the result would’ve been 1:1.
In fact, AFC Bournemouth got themselves in the lead early in that game. Daniels scored in 13’, but the equalizer came 8 minutes later. From then, AFC Bournemouth started playing ultra-defensively. They were moments away from getting the first point of the season, but then, 7 minutes into the stoppage time, Raheem Sterling scored the winner for Manchester City.
That match showed that AFC Bournemouth has the potential to play well; it’s just that their key players are not in a good shape. For example, Joshua Kind, who was one of the top 10 scorers last season in the Premier League, is still without a goal to his name after 4 games. Jermaine Defoe, one of the most lethal English strikers in the last couple of years, is also goalless.
Speaking of Jermaine Defoe, he’s the man in whom the fans of AFC Bournemouth are putting a lot of hope this season. The 34-year-old joined this club this summer from Sunderland, a team that got relegated out of the Premier League last season. For two seasons in a row, he was Sunderland’s top scorer, with 15 goals each season. His experience might mean a lot now that AFC Bournemouth is under a lot of pressure. Unfortunately, Defoe hasn’t been playing well so far and is still without a goal to his name.
In fact, the only AFC Bournemouth player who has scored this season is Charlie Daniels, who plays as a defender. The clash with Brighton is a good chance for Bournemouth strikers to show their value. All of them are fit and ready for the game, apart from Callum Wilson, who’s been injured since February. Speaking of injuries, Stanislas and Fraser are also going to miss this duel.
The Saturday’s match will take place on Bournemouth’s turf, the Vitality Stadium, which is the smallest stadium in the Premier League in terms of capacity. Still, despite the fact that only about 12 thousand people can be on the stands, AFC Bournemouth have been playing well at home. In fact, 9 out of 12 matches which they won last season were played at their stadium.
BRIGHTON
Brighton is traveling to Bournemouth with their heads held high. In the previous round, this team won against WBA 3:1, which must be a massive boost for the morale of their players. Pascal Gros was the man of the match, with two goals to his name and one assist. The German midfielder joined the club this summer from Ingolstadt, for a rather small transfer fee, €3M.
Another player who did well in that match is Tomer Hemed. The Israeli striker has been one of the team’s most lethal players in the last couple of seasons, although not as lethal as Glenn Murray. Actually, Murray was the 4th best scorer in the Championship last season, with 23 goals scored. However, Murray is yet to score his first goal in the Premier League. The same goes for Anthony Knockaert, a French midfielder, who was one of the key men in Brighton’s squad last season.
Because of the victory in the previous round, Brighton now has 4 points after 4 rounds. It might not seem impressive, but they have faced some really tough opponents so far. In their first Premier League match every, Brighton lost to Manchester City 2:0. A week later, Leicester beat them with the same goal difference. But then, Bournemouth played draw with Watford, followed by the win over WBA.
What’s making their fans worried is that Brighton hasn’t been playing too well away from their turf. Last seasons, when they played in the Championship, Brighton won only 11 out of possible 23 away matches. This season in the Premier League, they have won one point in away matches, without scoring a single goal.
Another bad news is that their injury list is pretty long. Sidwell, Brown, Kayal, Baldock, and Bong are out of the squad for sure. But, these players have been out for a while now, so their absence should not be a major deal. Brighton’s key men are fit and ready to go.
One thing that’s probably worrying Brighton fans is that their team is without a win in duels with AFC Bournemouth since 1st January 2008, when both sides played in the League One. Since then, they met 6 more times, half of which were won by AFC Bournemouth, including their last meeting in 2015, when the score was 2:0.
Of course, the things have changed quite a lot since then. A lot of players have joined Brighton, especially during the latest transfer period. Actually, this team spent over €30M on transfers during summer. Almost half of the total sum went for the transfer of Jose Izquierdo from Club Brugge.
The striker is yet to make a bigger impact in Brighton, as he’s been on the pitch a total of 9 minutes this season. Maybe the game with AFC Bournemouth is his chance to show his worth? Still, I doubt that Chris Hughton will feature the Columbian attacker in this duel, as keeping the net safe will probably be Brighton’s priority.
AFC Bournemouth vs. Brighton – Match Prediction
It’s going to be a disaster if AFC Bournemouth failed to win points on Friday. They need to get in a good run as soon as possible, and the match with Premier League newcomers, Brighton, seems as an ideal opportunity for that. Surely, this is going to be a close game, but I think the hosts will take all three points eventually.
MY PICK: AFC Bournemouth to win (+129)
