Bournemouth vs Sunderland preview
Bournemouth have to secure maximum points when they welcome Sunderland to Dean Court on Saturday.
The Cherries have adapted well to the Premier League and Eddie Howe’s men have succeeded in retaining their possession-based philosophy with two strikers up top.
They were the better side at Liverpool, where they were unfortunate to lose from a controversial goal. They then defeated West Ham at Upton Park before taking points off second-placed Leicester City.
Still, the results have not been good enough as Howe’s men have lost three of their opening five games. They come into this game off the back of a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Carrow Road, where the Cherries defended poorly and gave away possession cheaply.
Bournemouth’s main ambition is to stay up, so they cannot afford to lose winnable games as they did at Norwich. That means this home encounter against struggling Sunderland is a must-win for Howe’s men.
The Black Cats will also be fancying their chances when they make this trip to Bournemouth. While the Cherries have generally been performing well, save for their last outing, Sunderland have actually been poor except for last weekend when they narrowly lost 0-1 to Tottenham.
Dick Advocaat’s side have the second worst defence in the league and are among the favourites to be mired in the relegation dog-fight come the second-half of the season.
They have at least been scoring goals in most of their games and Jermain Defoe, the Black Cats’ chief marksman, will hope to find the net against his former club. Defoe enjoyed playing in front of Bournemouth fans before in the 2000/01 season, when he scored a record 13 goals in successive games during a loan spell.
Bournemouth team news
- Charlie Daniels missed the defeat at Norwich City because of a hamstring injury, but the full-back is expected to return to the starting line-up.
- Harry Arter (thigh) is back in training after an injury-plagued summer. He is unlikely to be involved though.
- Max Gradel (ACL knee) and Tyrone Mings (knee) are definitely out.
Sunderland team news
- DeAndre Yedlin is available for selection after he was ineligible to face his parent club, Tottenham, last weekend.
- Adam Johnson is back in training after a spell on the sidelines because of a shoulder injury. He could make the travelling squad.
- England Under-21 international Duncan Watmore has missed training this week because of illness and is a major doubt for this game.
- Adam Matthews is definitely out with an ankle injury.
Bournemouth vs Sunderland Prediction
Eunan O’Kane was a bit loose in possession at Carrow Road, so Dan Gosling could replace him in the starting XI. Gosling could join Andrew Surman as the central midfielders, dictating play and spreading the ball wide for the Cherries.
Bournemouth will probably keep their usual 4-4-2 formation, so Matt Ritchie is likely to be an inverted right midfielder supplying in-swinging crosses with his left foot to Glenn Murray and Callum Wilson, while also creating overloads with an overlapping Simon Francis.
The Black Cats looked much more solid against Spurs as they operated with two holding midfielders – Yann M’Vila and Jordi Gomez – in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Advocaat could stick to that system with the same pair protecting the defenders again.
Defoe will probably lead the attack, with Fabio Borini making diagonal runs inside from the left attacking midfield position to support the former Tottenham striker. Ola Toivonen is likely to start as he allows Sunderland to get the ball into the offensive half quickly by providing a good target for long balls in the number 10 position.
Jeremain Lens could complete the offensive formation as the right attacking midfielder, drifting infield from the flank to help Toivonen in creating chances through the middle.
Bournemouth will probably enjoy more possession and spend most of the game in the offensive half. They should be wary of Defoe though, because the veteran centre forward looked sharp against Spurs with incisive runs in behind a high defensive line.
Score prediction
Bournemouth 1-0 Sunderland.
