19/20Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Mark Travers; Adam Smith; Illia Zabarnyi; Marcos Senesi; Lloyd Kelly; Lewis Cook; Ryan Christie; Antoine Semenyo; Justin Kluivert; Dango Ouattara; Dominic Solanke;
Brentford (4-3-3): Mark Flekken; Kristoffer Ajer; Nathan Collins; Ethan Pinnock; Sergio Reguilón; Mikkel Damsgaard; Christian Nørgaard; Vitaly Janelt; Bryan Mbeumo; Ivan Toney; Keane Lewis-Potter;
Two rounds before the end of the season, Brentford are no longer in danger of relegation from the Premier League. The Bees are in sixteenth position, ten points more than struggling for survival Luton. On Saturday, Brentford will visit Bournemouth, which is currently right in the middle of the standings, a point ahead of Brighton and with just as many behind ninth-placed West Ham.
The first game between both sides this season was in the fourth round and ended with a draw. Bournemouth came very close to the three points but slipped away in the third minute of extra time when Bryan Mbeumo equalised for 2-2. This was the third clash between the two teams in the Premier League. Last season, The Cherries failed to score a single goal in their opponent’s goal as they went down 0-2 away to Brentford Community, while the score at Vitality was 0-0.
Last weekend, the Bournemouth team conceded their fourteenth loss in total this campaign in a disappointing manner – 0-3 away to the leader of the standings, Arsenal. With this defeat, the Cherries ended their streak of two consecutive wins, which were over Wolverhampton and Brighton. Brentford, on the other hand, earned a point in the last round after a draw with Fulham.
Bournemouth came out as the favourites to win the upcoming battle, and that can’t be wrong, as the team has been without a defeat at their stadium since February when they lost 0-1 to the current champion Manchester City. The Cherries have just another defeat at home in 2024, which was 0-4 against Liverpool. After the loss to City, Bournemouth recorded four wins and two draws. I think that Brentford will not be able to break their rival’s successful streak and will lose for the first time in the Premier League against Bournemouth.