Premier League Preview: AFC Bournemouth

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 7th December 2024 12:21

Not many teams will beat Arsenal or Man City this season, even fewer will beat both but that’s exactly what Bournemouth did in October and November.

Defeats to Brentford and Brighton followed that win against City and shows how hard it is to go on a consistent run in the Premier League, but victories against Wolves and Tottenham have brought the Cherries back up to ninth.

<h1>Goalkeepers </h1>

Bournemouth brought in Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan from Chelsea following the loan of Neto to Arsenal, who in turn covered the sale of Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton.

The Cherries have arguably got an upgrade, albeit one whose confidence may not be at the level it was before having struggled both at Chelsea and on loan at Real Madrid last season.

The Spaniard has missed four games so far this season, either with a small injury or because he couldn’t play against his parent club. Twenty-five-year-old Irishman Mark Travers stepped in on those occasions, excelling in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa and following that up with a good performance in the 2-1 victory over Manchester City. He sits on a goals prevented of 3.35 from those performances and will be breathing down Kepa’s neck for that number one shirt.

<h1>Defenders </h1>

Bournemouth play a 4-2-3-1 formation and their centre-half pairing of Illia Zabarnyi and Marcos Senesi has stayed fairly consistent. The pair provide a right and left-footed combination for balance and have both been at the club since the 2022/23 season. Twenty-two-year-old Zabarnyi is tasked will playing the ball out of defence more whilst Senesi gets stuck in winning 19 tackles and making 10 interceptions so far this season.

In the full-back spaces, Milos Kerkez has nailed down the left-back slot whilst Adam Smith and Julian Araujo have rotated a bit more at right-back.

Twenty-one-year-old Hungarian Kerkez looks a real prospect and for me is up there with the best left-backs in the league. Similar to Leif Davis, he seems to never run out of energy bombing up and down the left-hand side of the pitch. He’s not afraid to get into the box and was a key factor in Bournemouth’s win against Manchester City with his attacking runs causing the Sky Blues defenders all kinds of problems. He finished with two assists in that game.

Smith is a Bournemouth veteran. The 33-year-old has made 388 appearances for the Cherries spanning both spells they’ve had in the Premier League. He’s solid, dependable and provides a balance to the backline which allows Kerkez to get forward.

He’s replaced Aruajo in the side after the 23-year-old Mexican had a tough start to the season and is now injured. Aruajo joined in the summer from Barcelona having spent last season on loan at fellow La Liga side Las Palmas. He’s a product of the LA Galaxy academy but had enough about him to earn the move to Spain. He’ll be hoping to take any opportunities he can to prove he’s the long-term successor to Smith.

He’ll have competition in that respect with former Norwich full-back Max Aarons also in the squad looking for minutes.

Further centre-back reinforcements are hard to come by but the Cherries do have another exciting young prospect in their ranks in Dean Huijsen, who signed from Juventus over the summer. The 19-year-old is a Spanish U21 international and has made three starts, including on Thursday where he scored the only goal of the game against Tottenham, with a further four appearances off the bench so far.

Former Fleetwood player James Hill is another option who can cover centre-back and right-back.

<h1>Midfield </h1>

The crucial cog in the Bournemouth midfield is without doubt Lewis Cook. The 27-year-old looked like he could become an England regular before a cruciate ligament tear wiped him out in the 2018/19 season. He’s done incredibly well to work his way back from that and provides the kind of all action midfield displays that Iraola looks for. He has a good balance of creativity (three assists so far this season) and workrate (20 interceptions, the third-highest in the league)

He’s had three midfield partners alongside him this season, mainly due to necessity thanks to injury issues rather than choice. His most common partner has been Ryan Christie. The Scotland international operates as the more advanced of the two midfielders and was on the scoresheet in the win against Arsenal. He’s not afraid to get stuck in and served a one-match suspension against Brighton for accumulating five yellow cards. Only Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana have received more this season.

In his absence, Iraola turned to Tyler Adams to fill the gap. Adams, who joined the Cherries following Leeds’ relegation, struggled with injury problems last season and only made three appearances. He’s already surpassed that this season with three more so far and will be set on getting more regular football.

Adams’s presence may now be even more important in midfield with Christie back but Cook the one now struggling with injury

Another player who has struggled with injury problems since joined is 21-year-old Alex Scott, who settled into the Premier League easily following a move from Bristol City but had his progress cut short. He’d featured a lot off the bench up until the Arsenal game but has been out since then.

The final option in the middle is 28-year-old Dane Phillip Billing but he seems to have fallen down the pecking order with only two substitute appearances so far.

<h1>Forwards </h1>

Without doubt Bournemouth’s best attacking player so far this season has been Antoine Semenyo. He has four goals and an assist to his name so far. He’s a strong ball carrier, good at receiving the ball and driving forward and has had the eighth most touches in the attacking third of all Premier League forwards.

He attempts a high number of shots, with his 52 so far only behind Erling Haaland but only 23% of them have been on target.

With Semenyo largely operating off the left-hand side, it’s Marcus Tavernier who has been starting down the right. Alongside Semenyo, he’s crucial for Bournemouth’s high press, attempting 21 tackles so far with five in the final third. It’s that energy and workrate that has helped him keep his place.

That high press from Bournemouth could not have been more evident than in their 4-2 victory against Wolves where Justin Kluivert became the first person in Premier League history to score a hat-trick of penalties. That took the Dutchman’s goal output to five for the season, in addition to two assists. He operates in a free role in behind the central striker which gives him the freedom to drift about and impact games.

The player who won all three of those penalties (also a Premier League first) was Brazilian Evanilson. The 25-year-old Brazilian was a big money signing in the summer from Porto and was tasked with filling the boots of the departing Dominic Solanke. He has certainly done that with four goals so far this season.

He’s a different sort of striker to Solanke with his talents more suited to running in behind than being a focal point but that has also been a large factor in the improvement of Semenyo. Because teams are worried about covering Evanilson, the players behind him have more space to receive the ball and drive at defenders.

The form of those four has meant the back-up attackers have struggled for starts but all have the ability to make a difference across the bench.

Dango Ouattara has made the most starts of that group and can play on both wings, whilst David Brooks and Luis Sinisterra provide further depth there. Sinisterra in particular will be well known by Town fans after his performance for Leeds last season.

Back-up striker is Enes Unal, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Getafe but only made three starts for the Spanish side.

<h1>The Teams </h1>

Kieran McKenna made two changes against Crystal Palace, both of which I saw coming. I think there’ll will be more rotation for this one. Kalvin Phillips and Ben Johnson could both be back to play some part in it. If Johnson is fit I think we’ll see him ahead of Harry Clarke rather than instead of him.

Jacob Greaves replaced Cameron Burgess on Tuesday and struggled but I think he’ll keep his place as McKenna will want to get him back up to full speed.

The midfield depends on injuries but is likely to stay unchanged and further forward I think we’ll see the return of Conor Chaplin with Omari Hutchinson moved out to the right.

Lots of fans seemed to be getting on the back of Jack Clarke but I thought Tuesday night was his best game yet. He’s admitted that he’s learning a new role on that side because Leif Davis takes all the width and he’s getting better game by game. I can see him being given the nod for this one as well.

Apart from Bournemouth’s central defensive partnership being split up by injury, there were no obvious rotations so I think they’re likely to be unchanged.

<h1>Prediction </h1>

McKenna has stated that he thinks this one could be a nice open game. I’m not so sure. Yes, Bournemouth press high and have won the most balls of any team in the final third and from that generate a lot of shots, but they’re clever with when they do that.

They’re not a high possession team and they have committed the most fouls in the league so it could get scrappy.

The Cherries have been one of my favourite teams to watch this season, a sentiment that Conor Chaplin agreed with is his pre-match press conference and can cause any teams problem.

That home win needs to come soon but I just don’t think it will be in this one. 3-1 Bournemouth.

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