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Spotlight on... AFC Bournemouth

Fri 29 November 2019, 11:54|Tottenham Hotspur

We return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon as AFC Bournemouth make the trip to N17 (kick-off 3pm).

Jose Mourinho will be looking to continue his 100 per cent record as Head Coach this weekend, having already secured victory in both of his opening games.

Ahead of the visit of Eddie Howe’s side, we put the Cherries under the spotlight.

Team news

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe will be without the services of Joshua King for this Saturday’s meeting after the striker picked up a hamstring injury. Long-term absentees Charlie Daniels, David Brooks and Junior Stanislas also remain unavailable for the clash.

Simon Francis and Philip Billing will also miss the game with the pair currently serving their respective suspensions. Francis was dismissed in the Cherries' 2-1 defeat to Wolves after picking up two yellow cards while Billing picked up his fifth caution of the season in the same game.

Howe, however, is hopeful that winger Ryan Fraser and striker Dominic Solanke will be able to shake off knocks and play their part in the encounter.

Bournemouth’s form

Despite having started the season by taking 10 points from their first six games, Bournemouth have struggled of late, picking up just one win in their last seven games. Defensively, the Cherries have been strong with three clean sheets recorded in that time, but they have lacked bite up front, having only managed to find the target five times in that run.

New faces

Bournemouth brought in defensive options over the summer from Championship outfits Bristol City and Luton Town with Lloyd Kelly joining from the former and Jack Stacey from the latter. In midfield, Philip Billing returned to the Premier League as he moved from relegated Huddersfield, Harry Wilson has been loaned in from Liverpool while winger Arnaut Danjuma has signed for the Cherries from Club Brugge.

Leader of the opposition

Named as the Football League’s manager of the decade in 2015, Eddie Howe saved Bournemouth from relegation from the Football League in 2009 before leading the Cherries to the Premier League for the first time in their history just six years later.

A defender in his playing career, Howe came through the youth system at the Vitality and spent a total of 11 years there, while he also had brief spells with Portsmouth and Swindon Town before hanging up his boots in 2007. A year-and-a-half later, he took charge of Bournemouth for the first time in December, 2008. In the remaining months of the 2008/09 season, he steered his side away from the bottom of League Two, overcoming a 17-point deficit, before going on to achieve promotion the following campaign.

He left the south coast for Burnley in 2011 but was soon back at Bournemouth in October, 2012, to retake the hot seat. The following year, promotion was secured from League One before a spot in the Premier League was earned two seasons later. In 2017, he guided the Dorset outfit to the highest-ever finish in their history - ninth in England’s top-flight.

Last five meetings

4 May, 2019 – Bournemouth 1-0 Spurs – Premier League
26 December, 2018 – Spurs 5-0 Bournemouth – Premier League
11 March, 2018 – Bournemouth 1-4 Spurs – Premier League
14 October, 2017 – Spurs 1-0 Bournemouth – Premier League
15 April, 2017 – Spurs 4-0 Bournemouth – Premier League

The numbers game

4 – We have won all four of our Premier League home games against Bournemouth by an aggregate score of 13-0.

1 - Bournemouth have won just one of their eight Premier League meetings with us (D1 L6) – that victory coming in last May’s meeting between the sides, thanks to Nathan Ake’s 90th-minute winner after we were reduced to nine men.

2 – Bournemouth have lost their last two Premier League games, with the Cherries last losing three in a row back in December, 2018 (a run of four).

5 - This will be José Mourinho’s first home Premier League match in charge of the Club. None of our last five permanent managers have lost their first such game (W3 D2) since Martin Jol lost 3-2 against Charlton in November, 2004.

8 - Eight of Bournemouth’s 16 Premier League goals this season have come from set-piece situations (excluding penalties), the highest number and highest ratio (50 per cent) in the division.

Played for both

Sixth in our all-time top goalscorers list, Jermain Defoe holds legendary status at the Club after he scored 143 goals for us during his nine years in N17. He emerged onto the Premier League stage as a youngster with West Ham, enjoyed a loan spell with the Cherries in 2000/01 before arriving at White Hart Lane for the first time in 2004. Of course, he scored on his debut for us and from there, the rest is history.

Electric in the box with a great turn of pace and a fierce shot from his right foot, the forward scored all types of goals for us before departing in 2008 for Portsmouth. A year later though, Jermain returned and the goals continued to come for the forward, including five in the 9-1 win against Wigan Athletic in November, 2009.

He moved to Toronto in 2014 but the former England international was back in the Premier League within a year as he joined Sunderland before returning to Bournemouth in 2017. Now 37 years old, he is still finding the back of the net on loan at Rangers and he currently sits top of the goalscoring charts in the Scottish Premiership with 10 so far this campaign, averaging a goal every 56 minutes.