AFC Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace
Date: 01/10/2018
K/O: 20.00
Venue: The Vitality Stadium
TV: Sky Sports
Referee: Mike Dean
Bournemouth will be looking to build on home comforts against Crystal Palace in a huge game on Monday night.
The Cherries were dismantled 4-0 at Turf Moor but will be happy to return to the Vitality as they look to build on their impressive start to the Premier League campaign.
Palace meanwhile are yet to score a goal in three home games, but they have enjoyed plenty of success on the road, winning twice already, and this could prove a shootout between two lightning-quick forward lines.
Eddie Howe believes Zaha, who has scored in all of Palace’s three away league games, is just one of the Palace threats his side need to be wary of.
“Zaha is a player that we need to be aware of, but they’ve also got excellent midfielders with a lot of experience, so we’ve got to manage it well.
“We’ve had some really entertaining games with Palace, they’re a good squad with a good manager.”
After being humbled by Burnley, Howe was pleased with his side’s response during the dramatic 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup third round.
He added: “It was important to get that winning feeling, even though we changed a lot of players. We desperately wanted to win.
“We’re a very strong squad and you don’t want the team to pick itself, I don’t think that’s healthy.
“I think it’s panned out nicely that we’re on a Monday. We had a quick turnaround mid-week so to have a bit of a break is good for us.”
Bournemouth have been more of a collective under Eddie Howe, and the emergence of young talents such as Ryan Fraser, David Brooks and Lewis Cook suggests the south coast club are again finding the right blend to continue their upward momentum
Roy Hodgson’s Palace will not be panicking after their goalless draw against Newcastle, however their over reliance on star man Zaha is something that will have him troubled. Out of the four goals scored this term, Zaha has scored three.
Although the Cherries are scoring goals for fun at home they come up against a very good Palace defence. Crystal Palace are on an impressive away run, which includes four clean sheets in their last five.
AFC BOURNEMOUTH: Form and Stats
Eddie Howe’s team are a tough nut to crack on their home turf, but last weekend’s heavy defeat could be a dent to their high-flying confidence. Bournemouth, are unbeaten in the five matches played at the VItality this season. They have, however, never won a Premier League game on a Monday and have won just one of their six Premier League matches against Palace.
A fairly strong Bournemouth eleven, did however, progress to the next round of the Cup after narrowly beating Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at home.
Junior Stanislas and Jordan Ibe gave the Cherries a two-goal lead but the Championship side got back on level terms. The match looked to be heading to a penalty shootout before Callum Wilson’s 94th-minute winner.
Form WWDLWL
CRYSTAL PALACE: Form and Stats
Palace will be hoping to clinch their fifth win from six away games this season at the expense of Bournemouth on Monday night, at a venue they have enjoyed visiting in recent years.
Palace are undefeated at the Vitality Stadium since the Cherries reached the Premier League four seasons ago, with a 2-0 win in January 2017 sandwiched between a pair of draws, including last season’s 2-2 scoreline.
A win for Roy Hodgson’s team will see them reach 100 in the Premier League, becoming the 22nd team to hit three figures for three-pointers.
Form WLLLWD
Head to Head :
| Bournemouth wins | Draws | Palace wins | |
| League | 28 | 19 | 23 |
| FA Cup | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| League Cup | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 28 | 19 | 23 |
Last six meetings: AFC Bournemouth W1, Crystal Palace W1, D4
Predicted Starting XI’s & Injury Updates:
BOURNEMOUTH
LINE UP: Begovic, Rico, Ake, S Cook, Smith , Brooks, Lerma, Gosling, Fraser, King, Wilson
Junior Stanislas comes back into contention after making his return in midweek.
Charlie Daniels has returned to training but Monday’s match is likely to come too soon for the defender.
Diego Rico could come back into contention but Dan Gosling will miss out with a calf problem. Lewis Cook could come in for the injured midfielder.
Kyle Taylor has not yet returned to training.
Doubts: Daniels (knee), Gosling (calf), Rico (hamstring)
PALACE
LINE UP: Hennessey, Van Aanholt, Sakho, Tomkins, Wan-Bissaka, McArthur, Milivojevic, Kouyate, Meyer, Townsend, Zaha
A knee injury is expected to keep striker Christian Benteke out. Palace loanee Jordan Ayew could get a chance to lead the line in his absence, with Zaha and Townsend flanking the Ghanaian.
Max Meyer could finally make his long-awaited first Premier League start after completing 90 minutes in midweek.
Zaha was given the night off on Tuesday, as was goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
Jairo Riedewald has returned to training following a knee injury but is is unlikely to feature.
Connor Wickham and Scott Dann are long-term injury absentees.
Doubtful None
Injured Benteke (knee, Oct), Dann (knee, Oct), Riedewald (knee, Oct), Wickham (calf, Oct)
OPTA STATS:
- Bournemouth have won just once in six previous Premier League matches against Crystal Palace (W1 D4 L1), winning 2-1 at Selhurst Park in February 2016.
- Crystal Palace have lost just once in their last five away league games against Bournemouth (W2 D2 L1), this after losing nine of their previous 10 visits there (D1).
- The away side has opened the scoring in each of the last four Premier League meetings between Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, but have only gone on to win once (D3).
- Crystal Palace are currently on 99 Premier League wins and could become the 22nd side to reach 100 in the competition.
- Bournemouth have never won a Premier League game on a Monday (D1 L4), with their last such game against Brighton in January being the only time they’ve scored in such a fixture (2-2).
- Crystal Palace have won three of their last four Premier League away games (L1), as many as they had in their previous 20 combined (W3 D6 L11).
- Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser has had a hand in five goals in his last four Premier League games at the Vitality Stadium (4 goals, 1 assist).
Prediction: Bournemouth 2 Palace 1
A tough game to predict the score line of , although Bournemouth’s matches have contained plenty of goals this season, Palace’s have been the opposite as they look to base their play on a solid defence. They will approach this match cautiously with a clean sheet being the target as usual for Hodgson.
Howe’s top 3 haven’t stopped scoring goals at home, but this is a sterner test for his men. And although Crystal Palace have Zaha, Bournemouth at home are a different team and Palace will have to react and can’t just sit back.
