In gameweek two, the Cherries were defeated 3-1 at home by Liverpool, while Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs defeated Manchester United 2-0 to earn their first victory under his leadership.
Match preview
With Jurgen Klopp‘s backline at sixes and sevens, chaos ensued during the earliest exchanges of Bournemouth’s showdown with Liverpool last weekend, as Andoni Iraola‘s side had a two-minute strike ruled out before Antoine Semenyo drilled home the opener seconds later.
The Cherries’ dominance inevitably waned, though, as Liverpool turned the tide in their favour thanks to Luis Diaz‘s acrobatic equaliser and Mohamed Salah‘s penalty rebound, before Bournemouth were ostensibly offered a route back into the match courtesy of Alexis Mac Allister‘s now-rescinded red card.
The Argentine’s contentious sending off only spurred Liverpool on to kill the game off, though, as Diogo Jota completed a stellar comeback only a few minutes after the hosts had gone down to 10, thus forcing Iraola to wait a little longer for his maiden Premier League success.
With one point to show from their opening two matches in 2023-24, Bournemouth occupy 14th place in the table – not that their position means much at this stage – and they enter gameweek three now on a six-match winless run in the top division of English football.
Furthermore, only one of the Cherries’ last six Premier League home contests has ended in victory, while they are without a clean sheet on their own patch since shutting out Liverpool in March, which hardly provides reassurance ahead of the visit of Postecoglou’s revitalised Tottenham.
Following an entertaining and evenly-matched battle against Brentford and their fellow attack-minded head coach Thomas Frank, Spurs returned to base to welcome a Manchester United side who had been counting their lucky stars in an undeserved win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Red Devils’ luck quickly ran out in front of a raucous North London atmosphere, as after being denied twice by the woodwork in the first half, Postecoglou’s side drew first blood through Pape Sarr‘s maiden goal before Lisandro Martinez turned Ben Davies‘s effort into his own net.
Beating 20-time English champions Man United in your opening Premier League home game is a manager’s dream, and Postecoglou’s men are sitting in a respectable sixth place in the standings following their unbeaten start, although that is still far from where they wish to be.
Nevertheless, the Lilywhites have now managed to make the net ripple in 14 successive Premier League contests, although they have both scored and conceded in each of their last seven road affairs, only winning once – against a relegated Leeds United side – during that sequence.
Bournemouth and Spurs played out a pair of five-goal thrillers during the 2022-23 campaign, as an Antonio Conte-led Tottenham came back to prevail 3-2 at the Vitality before the Cherries avenged that beating with an identical success in North London during Cristian Stellini‘s nightmarish reign.
Team News
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Since coming away from Anfield with no points to their name, Bournemouth have added Tyler Adams to their midfield ranks from Leeds United for a reported £23m, but the USA international is still working his way back from a hamstring concern and will be forced to wait for his debut.
Adams joins a host of injured players in the Cherries’ infirmary, as fellow new arrival Alex Scott (knee), Adam Smith, Marcus Tavernier (unspecified), Dango Ouattara (ankle), Ryan Fredericks (calf) and Emiliano Marcondes (foot) are also unavailable for the visit of Tottenham, and only Lewis Cook (groin) may have a slim chance of returning here.
Iraola’s decision to start Semenyo in tandem with Dominic Solanke initially paid dividends at Anfield, and the duo should continue to link arms in the final third, where Hamed Traore is pushing to displace Ryan Christie.
Tottenham also had a new midfielder of their own nursing an injury this week, as James Maddison was seen on crutches following the win over Man United, but Postecoglou is confident that the playmaker will be fine to feature this weekend.
On the other hand, Bryan Gil (groin), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) and Alfie Whiteman (ankle) are all still recovering from operations, while Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Djed Spence and Tanguy Ndombele remain in exile.
The likes of Manor Solomon, Giovani Lo Celso and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will be on standby if Maddison cannot recover in time, but Postecoglou should avoid making any changes to a winning formula if he can help it, as Pedro Porro keeps Emerson Royal at bay once more.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Aarons, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Rothwell, Billing; Semenyo, Traore, Anthony; Solanke
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Maddison, Bissouma, Sarr; Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son
We say: Bournemouth 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Fresh from a deserved success over Man United in which their full-backs and midfielders ran the show, Tottenham can equally dominate a porous Bournemouth defence, especially with Maddison given the green light to feature.
Iraola’s Cherries are still capable of giving their fans something to cheer, but Postecoglou should win this head-to-head of the newly-appointed Premier League managers.
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