MY ACCOUNT
– Tottenham have taken 22 of a possible 24 points against clubs outside the current top six
– Harry Kane has scored seven in eight appearances against Bournemouth
– Recommended bet: Back Kane to score and Spurs to win
Two clubs that had bad experiences with VAR this week meet on Saturday afternoon when 14th-placed Bournemouth will try to knock Tottenham out of the Premier League’s top three.
The Cherries felt hard done by after a couple of handball decisions went against them in Monday night’s 2-0 loss at West Ham — a second defeat in succession for Gary O’Neil after his six-game unbeaten start.
Spurs thought they had sealed a place in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday until the video assistant referee checked Harry Kane’s stoppage-time strike against Sporting and found an offside in the build-up.
Antonio Conte, who was sent off for remonstrating, will want to avoid any further unfavourable interventions from the technology when his side bid to halt a two-match losing skid in the Premier League.
Team news
Lloyd Kelly (ankle) and David Brooks (hamstring) remain out for the Cherries, who lost goalkeeper Neto and striker Dominic Solanke to injury on Monday night.
O’Neil says Solanke’s ankle injury is not as bad as first feared, with the caretaker boss “hopeful” of a quick recovery for his first-choice forward.
Neto will be missing for at least the next couple of games, however, and Mark Travers will take over between the posts while the Brazilian overcomes a hamstring issue.
For Tottenham, Richarlison (calf) and Dejan Kulusevski (hamstring) are expected to remain sidelined this weekend, leaving Conte to call upon the same strikeforce that toiled at times against Sporting.
Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did at least return from respective calf and thigh problems in midweek and should retain their spots in the starting XI.
But with the pressure on Conte to get a result away to Marseille next week, the Italian is likely to rotate his resources to some extent.
That could see Emerson Royal and Ryan Sessegnon swapped back into the wing-back positions, Yves Bissouma brought back in midfield and Clement Lenglet or Davinson Sanchez slot back into central defence.
The stats
Bournemouth’s solitary win in 10 top-flight matches against Tottenham was the 1-0 home victory in May 2019 that remains their last against a London club on their own turf.
Conte has lost just one of his 19 Premier League games against promoted sides and his Spurs team have earned 22 points out of a possible 24 in their eight fixtures this season against sides currently outside the top six.
Harry Kane has scored 10 Premier League goals in 2022-23, his highest tally in a season before the end of October.
Kane has more Premier League goals against Bournemouth (seven in eight appearances), than the Cherries have against Spurs in the competition overall (five in 10 games).
Prediction
Bournemouth’s battle to stop this from becoming a one-season stay back in the top flight continues against a team who have mercilessly milked less-established clubs for points this season.
Injury issues and a loss of confidence brought about by back-to-back defeats could derail the hosts with Conte’s team desperate to pick up the winning thread again after a difficult couple of weeks.
Kane’s superb record against the Cherries sets him out above any other as the standout goalscoring threat in a game which Spurs will try to get through in a businesslike fashion ahead of the Marseille trip next week.
