Match Preview – Brighton v Plucky Little Bournemouth
Bournemouth – the team
Plucky Little Bournemouth were part of the greatest football fairy tale ever told as they rose from League Two to the Premier League in six seasons in with nothing but Eddie Howe’s bag of magic beans, a Russian oligarch and £40m of financial fair play loses in the Championship promotion year. This is their third season in the top flight and it’s proving to be their most difficult so far, with the Cherries firmly mired in a relegation battle. That has led to much criticism of Howe for not abandoning his attacking principles in favour of doing what every other club in the bottom half of the table does and prioritise not losing over winning. In a day and age when survival is the be all and end all and most of us sides battling to survive are too scared to attack, it makes a refreshing change.
Bournemouth – the place
Bournemouth is 97 miles away from Brighton yet once again, this is being billed as a local derby with Sky Sports showing it live. Who knows, maybe in a few years time we will be listing the great rivalries in football – the Manchester Derby, the North London Derby, El Classico – and the 100 Miles and Three Counties Away From Each Other South Coast Derby will feature. It will probably need a better name before then, though.
Bournemouth – the people
The Cherries may have been able to buy their way through the leagues with their roubles, but they haven’t been able to purchase any celebrity fans along the way. The most famous Bournemouth supporter remains former Top of the Pops presenter Jayne Middlesmiss. No, we’ve no idea either.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Bournemouth at home
Dick Knight did some pretty cringe worthy stuff at half time on the Withdean pitch during his time as chairman, but easily the best of the lot came when the Albion celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the club and he decided he wanted to cut a giant cake in the middle of the pitch at half time. We originally thought this was some sort of magic mushroom induced dream but it turns out it really did happen against Bournemouth in September 2001. For those who think there is anything more worth reporting on than Dick Knight cutting a birthday cake on the pitch, the game which finished 2-1 through goals from Paul Watson and an own goal from a certain Mr Howe.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Bournemouth at home
Our last Amex meeting was pretty dire, a 2-0 defeat in April 2015 as Bournemouth were on their way to the top flight and we were doing our level best to try and achieve the impossible by finishing below even Blackpool, Wigan and Millllllllllll.
Played for both
Steve Cook and Tommy Elphick both joined Bournemouth within a short space of time, helping the club from League One to the Premier League. Elphick did it as captain before leaving for Aston Villa while Cook is still at the Vitality Stadium. Glenn Murray is of course a player who has come the other way, returning to the Albion in the summer of 2016 once Howe had decided to stop being a twat and blocking the move.
Dangermen
Howe himself is probably the key man for Bournemouth in this fixture. He has faced Brighton 11 times as a manager, tasting defeat just once when his Burnley side were turned over 3-1 at Turf Moor in September 2012 by a Craig Mackail-Smith inspired Albion. Not very often we got to say that.
Betting
If Howe is true to himself, Bournemouth will do what most sides in the bottom half of the table don’t do and come on the attack. We might actually an open game with two sides going for it at the Amex for once, so take both teams to score.
Prediction
Given Howe and Bournemouth’s good record against us, we’re going for a score draw. 2-2. That should clear the New Years Day hangovers.
