Bournemouth vs Brentford

Vitality Stadium is the venue as Bournemouth and Brentford go head-to-head in a mid-table Premier League showdown.

While waiting for the completion of a long-awaited takeover, Bournemouth have yet to appoint a new manager since the sacking of Scott Parker. Caretaker boss Gary O’Neil steered the ‘Cherries’ to a morale-boosting three-game unbeaten Premier League run since the beginning of his interim charge (W1, D2), including a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United last time out. Still just four points clear of the drop zone, the hosts would be wrong to feel a false sense of security ahead of the kick-off. But another successful attempt to avoid losing would take Bournemouth’s undefeated run to four straight Premier League matches for the first time since October 2018. Worryingly for O’Neil, his men have lost their last three league meetings with Brentford, excluding playoffs.

In the meantime, visiting Brentford collapsed in a morale-crushing 3-0 home defeat to Arsenal on the cusp of the international break, sliding to the bottom half of the Premier League table for the first time this season. Manager Thomas Frank may have a crisis on his hands as his lads have picked up just one win in their last five league outings (D2, L2), failing to keep a clean sheet on each occasion. On top of that, the ‘Bees’ have won none of their three top-flight fixtures on the road this season (D2, L1), conceding an alarming average of two goals per game. But high scoring has been a common theme in Brentford’s Premier League matches this term, as their opening seven league clashes have featured an average of 3.85 goals per match.