AFC Bournemouth travel to Fulham this weekend, a trip that, after a strong start to the season for both has turned into a mid-table clash but could still prove so crucial come the end of the season.
Nerve sport are previewing the battle between two sides who shared a 1-1 draw both times they met in the championship last season, with both counters proving incredibly even. Both sides have started life in the Premier League better than expected, but this early in the season positions in the table cannot tell the whole story.
The Cherries maintained their strong form under interim boss Gary O’Neil last time out against Leicester, a 2-1 victory meaning they came from behind to secure the three points for the second time in four games and extended their unbeaten run to five league games. Apart from Bournemouth, only Manchester City have also played their last five games without loss, a stat showing how impressive the recent form is.
Fulham’s season so far has almost been the complete reverse of Bournemouth’s. An incredibly strong start from Marco Silva’s men ensured they were well away from the drop in the early stages of the season but a recent drop off in form, with two defeats in a row, allowed Gary O’Neil’s men to leapfrog the West London club in the table.
5 unbeaten following a slightly shaky start under former Head Coach Scott Parker leaves The Cherries 8th in the Premier League on 12 points, just one ahead of this weekend’s opponents, who sit 9th in the table on 11 points.
As mentioned, Fulham and Bournemouth enjoyed two very close games in the championship last season, asked if the players were ready to do it again, O’Neil responded: “Yeah definitely, I remember them being two real tough hard fought games where there were two teams who were going at it for 90 minutes in each one. I remember them being really even with both teams being able to show what they are at certain times. And of course, we’ve both moved on from there so it’s a different game now.”
Injury update:
Both Bournemouth and Fulham have injury concerns heading into the weekend, but Cherries fans should be happy with the news that Gary O’Neil revealed in his press conference on Friday morning. O’Neil confirmed that this weekend’s fixture comes too early for both David Brooks (Hamstring) with club captain Lloyd Kelly also still out. But in more positive news Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell are both back in full training with the squad and although O’Neil remained tight lipped on team selection saying “I’d prefer team news to come out just before the game tomorrow” the chances of at least one of those two making in appearance at least on the bench seems high.
Ultra-attacking or a more solid unit?
In recent games, Gary O’Neil has enjoyed switching between a two-up top with Kieffer Moore and a three-up top with Ryan Christie. When asked by Nerve Sport if he yet has a preference of the two, O’Neil responded: “I’m taking each game as it comes the positioning of the players will depend on opposition and what we have available so there will generally be slight changes to it. I do have some preferred formations and styles that I like but always in the front of my mind is what the opposition are and how they match up.” Tight-lipped indeed from the Bournemouth Interim manager.
The attack is boosted by the recent upturn in form from number 9 Dominic Solanke “He’s important in every aspect of our play. He’s important when we’re defending, he’s important when we’re building, he’s important from set plays, he’s important when we go more direct, put it behind teams and he causes defenders problems. As number 9’s are in a football team they are huge and Dom is definitely that for us. He’s hugely appreciated.
In defence, Chris Mepham and Marcos Senesi have found incredible form recently. Asked about the latter, O’Neil was full of praise: “He’s done really well. He’s trained hard as well to make sure he’s ready for adapting to life in the Premier League which obviously was very different to where he was playing football. I’ve been really pleased with how quickly to how quickly he’s transferred his work to the pitch on a Saturday because it’s definitely not easy.”
With options from the bench increasing in importance since the 5 substitutes rule, Nerve Sport asked O’Neil his thoughts on Jack Stacey’s cameo against Leicester and his role moving forwards. O’Neil was full of praise for his number 17: “Yeah I was pleased with Jack, I think we knew that Ryan Fredericks probably wouldn’t last 90 so depending on the state of the game we had some changes in mind and Jack made it look like a really good substitution, he came on and I thought he was excellent which isn’t easy in a game like that especially as he hasn’t played too much football so I was really pleased for him because he’s a good lad, works his socks off which means when he came on he was able to give a good account of himself.”
All solid units have to be backed up by their goalkeeper of course, with Neto enjoying his longest consistent period between the sticks for at least 3 years. On his ‘keeper O’Neil commented: “The more you play the better it is for you, I think he’s done a good job for us having played a part in some strong defensive displays from the team and we spoke about his leadership qualities so he’s big from that respect and hopefully he continues to improve.”
Fulham vs Bournemouth kicks of Saturday 3pm in West London