MY ACCOUNT
After two seasons in the Championship, Bournemouth are back in the Premier League.
With Scott Parker in charge, the Cherries will be trying to avoid an immediate return to the second tier.
Under Eddie Howe, they spent five seasons in England’s top flight before suffering relegation in 2019-20.
Players such as Dominic Solanke, Kieffer Moore and Philip Billing will have to carry their Championship form into the Premier League if the Cherries are to re-establish themselves.
Last season: Second (Championship)
Eleven wins from their first 15 games saw Bournemouth fighting at the summit throughout.
Parker’s old side Fulham were their main title rivals and the duo streaked away at the top of the league.
But from the start of November to the middle of December, they managed only one win in eight games, allowing Fulham to pull away and seeing the Cherries dragged back into the closing pack.
It was not until the penultimate game of the season that promotion was secured — a late winner from January signing Kieffer Moore against a resurgent Nottingham Forest clinching second place.
New faces
It has been a quiet summer at the Vitality Stadium so far with only two first-team arrivals.
Former West Ham right-back Ryan Fredericks joined on a free transfer at the start of July after his contract ended.
The 29-year-old will compete with Jack Stacey for the No2 spot having played with Parker at Fulham.
Blackburn midfielder Joe Rothwell is the Cherries’ other addition so far — another free transfer pick-up.
Potential line-up
4-3-3: Travers; Stacey, Mepham, Kelly, Zemura; Billing, Cook, Lerma; Christie, Solanke, Dembele.
Parker deployed a 4-3-3 system for much of last season, switching to 4-2-3-1 on occasion — particularly during the run-in.
Goalkeeper Mark Travers marshals a back four of Stacey, Chris Mepham, Lloyd Kelly and Jordan Zemura.
In midfield it gets more interesting.
New signing Rothwell could break in but Lewis Cook will anchor things in the centre. Billing and Jefferson Lerma should flank him.
Up front is hard to predict too. What is certain is last season’s top scorer, Solanke, will be the focal point.
Ryan Christie and Siriki Dembele appear the favourites to operate either side of the frontman.
Star man: Dominic Solanke
Had it not been for Aleksandar Mitrovic’s record-breaking 43 goals for Fulham, Solanke would have been the Championship’s top scorer with 29 strikes last term.
The 24-year-old joined Bournemouth from Liverpool for a reported £19million in January 2019 but failed to strike before the season’s end.
Solanke has excelled since relegation, however. He netted 15 times in 2020-21 and almost doubled that tally last term to lead the South Coast side back to the promised land.
Tall but deceptively quick, the former Chelsea youngster will have designs on adding to his solitary England cap if he can manage the step up.
Up-and-comer: Jaidon Anthony
Winger Jaidon Anthony counted Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson as peers during his time at Arsenal before leaving the Gunners in 2016.
He had to wait until December 2020 for his Bournemouth debut — a 3-2 loss to Preston in which he assisted — before making a first start in the EFL Cup last August.
From there, Anthony never looked back. He finished his first season as a regular, hitting eight goals and six assists in the Championship.
Capable of playing virtually anywhere in attack, the Hackney-born wide man will be an unknown quantity for Premier League defences.
The boss: Scott Parker
Former midfielder Parker is used to battling for survival having done so as a player and now as a manager.
Parker, 41, began his managerial career as caretaker of former club Fulham. He was given the job when the Whites were 19th in the Premier League but could not avoid the drop.
Entrusted with a permanent role to bring the Cottagers back up, Parker’s side beat Brentford in the 2020 play-off final to secure promotion after just one season.
However, it was the same old story in the top flight as the West Londoners were again relegated. With his two-year deal up, he joined Bournemouth.
In his first season, Parker was able to take the Cherries back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Now to achieve another first — top-flight survival.
All information correct as of 3pm, July 20, 2022
