Morning all.
Bournemouth travel to Arsenal today for the lunchtime fixture which is live on TNT Sport. Talking to BBC Radio Solent yesterday, manager Andoni Iraola spoke about injuries and facing Arsenal.
- Illia Zabarnyi is available after missing the Brighton win due to illness and Romain Faivre could also return, as could Philip Billing.
- However, Marcus Tavernier, Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Chris Mepham all remain out.
- On league leaders Arsenal: “I don’t know if this is the most difficult challenge that we have faced this season but it is a difficult game because they are playing so well. I don’t think we have gained any points at the Emirates, so we are expecting a really demanding game but if we give our best, we won’t make it easy for Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta and Andoni Iraola have known each other since they were young but today, any friendship they might have, will be put to one side. Bournemouth have nothing but pride and a few thousand travelling fans to play for. Arsenal however, just need to win. Get the three points and put pressure on Man City who play Wolves at The Etihad later in the day. Liverpool host Totts on Sunday afternoon.
Against Brighton, Bournemouth’s last fixture which they won 3-0, Iraola’s team were happy to allow Brighton the majority of possession, 30% – 70%, which is quite staggering for a home team yet it worked for them. Both sides had a similar amount of shots but the difference being, Brighton managed just one on target. Senesi, Unal and Kluivert scored Bournemouth’s goals. Dominic Solanke is their highest goal scorer though with just 3 less than Haaland on 21.
What can we expect from Bournemouth, well Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke has the answer:
Iraola started with a twin strikeforce against Brighton, but I expect them to revert to their usual 4-2-3-1. They are a counter-attacking outfit happy to go from back to front with one pass, and Everton are the only top-flight team to average more long passes per 90 minutes. When we are on the front foot, the visitors could be at their most dangerous. On the ball they fly forward at pace and lead the Premier League rankings for shots from fast breaks, registering nine more efforts from those situations than any other side. They have also scored an impressive seven goals from high turnovers in 2023/24, and in general they create plenty of chances, with their tally of 385 eclipsing the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Manchester United.
Off the ball they are industrious and aggressive. No-one has made more fouls than Iraola’s men, who love to close down opponents in packs, and Liverpool are the only outfit to regain possession more often than the Cherries inside the middle third, where the likes of Ryan Christie [above] and Lewis Cook are excellent at knocking opponents out of their stride. However Bournemouth do leak goals, shipping three or more in 10 of their 35 matches. Going away to the strongest teams in the division has sometimes been problematic. They scored in each of their trips to the current top five, but the aggregate scoreline from those matches is 15-4.
Stating the bleedin obvious, we need an early goal because if we’re not careful, this game could be a copycat of Aston Villa. Villa rode the storm, we couldn’t finish our chances and after being patient, hit us twice towards the end of the game. That Villa result threw a spanner into our Premier League title hopes. Anything other than a win today will, in my opinion, end any hope, albeit slim, we’re hanging on to.
Back in September, we thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 at their place but they were going through a bad patch back then. Iraola was rumoured to be heading for the sack having not won one of the opening seven fixtures. Bournemouth were already being labelled as one of the favourites to be relegated. Unlike a lot of clubs, the Bournemouth board stood by their man and in November, results began to improve. Now they sit in tenth place with just six points between them and sixth place Manchester Utd.
Mikel Arteta has a fully fit squad to select from for the first time since the opening day of the season. During his press conference, Arteta said that Jurrien Timber’s next step in his return to full fitness is to play for the first team. Assuming he’s in the squad today, perhaps we’ll see him later in the game if circumstances permit.
As long as there are no tired legs in the camp, I suspect we’ll see the same starting eleven we saw last Sunday.
Catch up in the comments.
Arsenal star labelled a ‘cheat’ as VAR slammed for letting him get away with it. ( Daily Express from Souness ) ex Liverpool and Spurs.
The witch hunt is well and truly underway . Our next goal from a corner disallowed by VAR.
Watch this space !
I saw that in The Mail too. I guess Souness wants his old club to finish second. Some people eh….
Good morning Rico, spring has returned to Norfolk it’s warm and sunny today. 😎
Arteta has a fully fit first team squad, no injuries, no illnesses, no suspensions, I honestly can’t remember a previous occasion when that had been the case.
Quick start, early goal, get the job done!
Morning Cicero, lovely in the south too.
Same starting eleven…
Afternoon Rico and all.
As Cicero said a quick start, early goals and shut there fans up.
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Rice, Odegaard, Partey, Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Timber not on the bench!
Afternoon Geoff. Absolutely need that early goal… or three… lol
Afternoon. Disgraceful ref and VAR for high challenge on Saka that could have put him out. How many have Bournemouth blocked?! Commentators say Finally a Yellow card.
Very nice to see both fans applaud the young lad who has died,
The have Saka in their sights, 22 minutes in how have we not scored
Three shirt pulls by same player not a booking, this is crazy, wait till we do one
Justice!
The commentators say no penalty, I say it was as there keeper kept his leg stretched out and made no contact with the ball
He was murdered Geoff….
Christie should have been off by now.
Breathed a big sigh of relief when Saka rolled that penalty in.
Now let’s kick on.
What’s he supposed to do with his trailing leg? A clear and obvious penalty. Saka puts it away with aplomb.
I’ll refrain from criticising Coote until later.
Gabriel becoming a bit of a worry, last week and today, some questionable passes
Yep, the goalkeeper lunged in knocking Havertz off of his stride so obstruction and therefore a penalty and the haters can feck off
Rico, what’s this world coming to his poor family, my heart aches for them.
Geoff chillax, Gabriel is superb
We need some fresh legs
Trosssaaaarrrrd!!!!2 – 0
Trossard scores the second,Rice you beauty too.
Now we breath a little bit easier, but would love another
Their player only had eyes on taking Raya out
Great win and another clean sheet
A match full of controversy but by the end, an excellent result.
Rice 👏👏
Three goals, clean sheet, three points, still top of the league. 🔔🔔🔔
Complete midfielder Rice, comments Souness? Funny how he’s stopped saying it since the Assists and Goals have come.
Raya, Golden Gloves, I didn’t expect that in August.
My retirement plan still has hope… 😂
Souness, lest we forget, played for the Spuds.
Me neither re Raya. Must be down to the great defence we have…. Lol
Congratulations to Ipswich, after 22 years, they’re back in the PL.
Trossard, Havertz, Rice, Jourjinho, what signings they have been! And hopefully we see Timber next season adding to a great five.
I can’t see us not buying Raya now he has justified, Arteta going after him, I am guessing the ball is in Ramsdale court if he stays or goes
With a 10 goal difference, All we need knows is Wolves to beat Man City,
Sdttl for a draw Geoff!
Andrew as long as city don’t win I will be happy
The penalty was very dubious. For me, Harvaetz dragged his feet…
Raya has the peculiarity of always trying to make the game more complicated.
Fortunately, the 2nd goal came.
Souness, lest we forget, played for the Spuds.
And Liverpool.
Jm, I get what you’re saying but the PL officials have given those sort of penalties for years now, especially to the likes of Utd, City, Liverpool etc. I liked that Coote took a few seconds and then gave it. The VAR official apparently gave an almost identical penalty midweek so he had to support the decision.
I was surprised their goal was ruled out but again, pleased it was. It makes a refreshing change to have a bit of fortune go our way.
Wolves already 3-0 down… ☹️
Big come back in the second half? Rico.
And pigs might fly Cicero 😂
5 – 1 It could have been a lot worse.
More chance of Fulham doing something than totts.
Both would be ideal.
our penalty was correct after all Jack Grealish does this every week, there keeper dived in feet first and never touched the ball, as for there goal disaloud, again a correct decision there player never look at the ball and only had eyes on Raya, if he was smart he should have looked at the ball then it becomes a 50 / 50 decision.
People in the media and there keeper crying about our penalty, seem to be very quiet when it comes to the foul on Saka that should have been a straight red card, yet if I am not mistaken he didn’t even get a yellow card for it.
Man City’s 5-1 result was absolutely the perfect riposte to our 3-0 win, as if to say ‘We’ve got this totally under our control and there’s really nothing at all that you can do about it’ – I also noticed how calm Guardiola looked as his team racked up the goals, barely celebrating…
It’s why I don’t bother watching the City games live, it just winds-you-up.
I saw the goals on YouTube and tbh they strolled it, the bastards, showing no tension and no nerves…
At this stage of the season most players’ minds are on their impending holidays so I’m afraid that none of Fulham, Tottenham or West Ham are going put in a shift because they’ll basically finish exactly where they currently are now, so I don’t hold out any hope whatsoever of any of them putting up much of a fight…
Man Utd (a) is going to be really difficult because Arteta has been living in Ten Hag’s head since we beat them at the Emirates so they’ll play the game as if their lives depended on it. But even if we beat them I don’t think it’ll be enough!
City are racking up the goals now and might catch us on goals scored anyway.
Arsenal have been fantastic this season but City have only lost 3 games whilst Arsenal have lost 5 and that I fear is going to cost us. ☹️
City have a good run home, however if they are going to drop points it could be against Tottenham as their manager had a real go at them during their last game.
Morning all.
New post up
Agree Kev. Before hoping for a City drop off, the simple issue is, we dropped points when realistically, we shouldn’t have. West Ham, Fulham and Aston Villa – three fixtures we were our own downfall. That’s why we’re not going to win the league this season.