Newcastle United will be visiting Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth in a Premier League match on the coming Sunday afternoon and it will be a homecoming of sorts for the Magpies’ manager Eddie Howe.
The side that visited South Coast won 1-0 against Southampton during the opening weekend; however, they suffered a red card within 15 minutes while the Cherries also had to struggle for a one all draw at Nottingham Forest where they equalized in the last few minutes.
By and large the Bournemouth chair was synonymous with Andoni Iraola’s work for the most of the 2023-24 Premier League season where he guided the team to its best-ever points haul in the top tier but a run of three straight losses to end the season was a blot on his copybook.
The Cherries were duly staring at their fourth consecutive defeat in the top flight at the City Ground; heung-Seming scored the opening goal only for Chris Wood to put Nottingham Forest back in front The Cherries were duly staring at their fourth consecutive defeat in the top flight at the City Ground; when Chris Wood got on the score sheet for Nottingham Forest in the midst of heung-Semingemrv, but the latter equalized in the 86
Although the goalmouth action was quite limited for the most part, the incident that pretty much overshadowed the match was the horrendous ankle injury sustained by Forest midfielder Danilo and Cherries will come back to the Vitality Stadium fresh and rested for their first home league fixture of the 2024-25 season.
Indeed from November 2023, Bournemouth registered only three defeats on their home ground in the top flight – two of them at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester City and the latest being the last match of the season 2023-24 when Brentford who are a team fighting for top flight survival defeated Bournemouth 2-1 at their home ground.
Summer depression seems to work for Bournemouth’s stadium also and the Cherries have now plagued the Vitality Stadium by not clinching each of their prior eight Premier League games in August, eight goals in total, which is meager compared to the 23 goals they let in, a rate of approximately three per game at least.
In their season-opening match, Newcastle also created a net ripple once, but Joelinton's lone goal was sufficient to send Southampton back to St Mary's empty-handed, in what their supporters undoubtedly believed was poetic justice.
After Fabian Schar's red card, Howe's crop had an uphill struggle for more than an hour. The Swiss defender had carelessly tilted his head towards Saints forward Ben Brereton Diaz, who sensed an opportunity to send his opponent packing and pulled off a spectacular fall.
Nevertheless, Newcastle's ten men were too strong for Brereton Diaz and company, and the Magpies might potentially accomplish a goal that has eluded them since the Kenny Dalglish era of 1997: winning their first two Premier League games.
Newcastle ended a six-game run without a clean sheet in the premier league after shutting out Russell Martin's team at St. James' Park. However, shutouts may be a stuff of fantasy at the Vitality, as the Magpies' 19 away games from the previous season yielded an incredible 76 goals in total.
When Howe was in the South Coast dugout in 2020, Newcastle last won this matchup. Since then, they have lost four top-flight games against the Cherries, having given up two of those attempts in a 2-0 loss to Iraola's team at the Vitality last November.
Last Saturday, Bournemouth's players came out on top in a 1-1 draw that saw new addition Dean Huijsen make his entire debut in the backline. However, the injured Danilo will be out for months.
Due to Marcos Senesi's recent sickness and head injury, Huijsen won his chance. Tyler Adams (back), David Brooks (shoulder), and Enes Unal (foot) are not as fortunate to be playing here, although the Argentine may return.
With Unal sidelined, Dominic Solanke wearing the Tottenham Hotspur uniform, and recent addition Evanilson unlikely to be given a start just yet, Semenyo—who recently became only the eighth player from Ghana to record ten Premier League goals—should serve as Bournemouth's attacking focal point.
In regards to Newcastle, Schar is one of two Magpies suspended for the weekend along with Sandro Tonali due to the Brereton Diaz incident from last weekend. However, the Italian is expected to make his eagerly anticipated training comeback the following week.
But Callum Wilson, another former Cherries player, is currently recovering from a back issue, while Lewis Miley plans to return in October following a metatarsal fracture.
