MY ACCOUNT
These are uncertain times on the South Coast as neither Bournemouth or Brighton will have permanent managers in their respective dugouts for Saturday’s Premier League clash at the Vitality Stadium.
Graham Potter has been wooed to London by the glitz and glamour of Chelsea, so under-21 coach Andrew Crofts will take interim charge while the Seagulls cast the net for the Englishman’s replacement.
The Cherries chose to give Gary O’Neil a chance to show what he could do after hastily parting company with Scott Parker after their 9-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield last month.
And the ex-midfielder has overseen an upturn in results with Bournemouth first grinding out a 0-0 draw against Wolves before launching an incredible comeback from two goals down to beat former promotion rivals Nottingham Forest 3-2 last week.
O’Neil can do his claims to be considered for the permanent position the power of good by constructing a gameplan to contain one of the Premier League’s form sides fresh off a five-goal demolition of Leicester.
Team news
Bournemouth began in a 4-2-3-1 formation at the City Ground, but it was not until O’Neil brought Ryan Fredricks on and switched to a back three that they got on top.
But with Brighton unlikely to play with two strikers from the start, the interim coach could keep faith with his back four and tweak the midfield options.
Jaidon Anthony, who scored his first ever Premier League goal last Saturday one minute and 51 seconds after he came off the bench, is pushing to start instead of Ryan Christie on the right-hand side.
O’Neil has urged caution over David Brooks, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma last year, as he plots a return to first-team action after a long spell out.
Now cancer-free, Brooks has been training with Cherries’ squad and stepped up his comeback with a run-out for the development side in midweek.
For the Seagulls, Potter would have been expected to field an unchanged team after seeing little wrong in their 5-2 thrashing of Leicester last Sunday.
The stats
Unbeaten across their last seven home league matches, Brighton are enjoying their longest home unbeaten run in the top flight since November 1982 — another seven-game run.
The Seagulls had never before scored five goals in a top-flight game prior to last Sunday’s clash with Leicester, which was their 364th game at this level.
Albion’s Leandro Trossard has scored six goals in his last 12 appearances in the Premier League.
Bournemouth’s 3-2 win over Forest was the first time the club had won a Premier League away game in which they trailed by two or more goals.
Dominic Solanke’s equaliser at the City Ground was his 50th goal for Bournemouth – at least 27 more than any other player at the club since he made his debut in February 2019.
Prediction
Bournemouth can take advantage of any lack of focus from Brighton after Potter beat a path to Stamford Bridge.
The Cherries have avoided defeat in their last two games and two of their three Premier League contests at the Vitality Stadium.
The Seagulls have been so good at flooding the midfield with numbers that they have tended to overwhelm teams that want to play through that area.
O’Neil will want to get the ball forward quickly from back to front and that is where Solanke could get some joy against a Brighton defence that melted away when Leicester attacked directly last weekend.
The former Liverpool forward is up and running after grabbing his first goal of the campaign last weekend and can be the man to break the deadlock in this intriguing tussle.
