Match Preview: Brighton v Plucky Little Bournemouth
Are we about to embark on the most important three days in Brighton’s two seasons in the Premier League so far? We think so.
It’s no exaggeration to say that back-to-back home games in just over 72 hours could have the ultimate bearing on what division the Seagulls are playing in for the 2019-20 season.
Six points and results going our way could put the Albion 11 clear of Cardiff City and the relegation zone come Tuesday evening. Defeat to Plucky Little Bournemouth on Saturday and Cardiff three days later coupled with a win for the Bluebirds over Burnley at the weekend and Neil Warnock’s side could be a point ahead of us by the time you’re tucking into your porridge on Wednesday morning.
The good news is that Bournemouth have been save from relegation for some weeks now and have taken their foot off the pedal as a result. There shouldn’t be a better time to play them.
The bad news is that we haven’t beaten the Cherries in a league game since George W Bush was on the American throne and Ken “Let’s talk about Hitler” Livingstone was still Mayor of London; New Year’s Day 2008 and an Alex Revell hat-trick to be precise.
It must be time to put that particular record straight, surely?
Who are Plucky Little Bournemouth?
Bournemouth spent the first 21 years of their existence playing in the local Hampshire League before joining the Southern League in 1920. Just three years later and they were elected to the Football League where, for the next 90 years or so, they were a pretty nondescript side who were probably most famous for nearly going out of business every couple of seasons. Their most recent brush with extinction came in 2008 when the problems surrounding who they owed money to and who even owned the club got so bad that the Football League hit them with a 17 point deduction. Relegation out of League Two looked like a foregone conclusion until the appointment of a 31-year-old Eddie Howe as manager. Howe led the Cherries to safety and they haven’t looked back since, winning three promotions in six seasons to climb from the bottom tier to the Premier League. That success hasn’t come cheaply, with Bournemouth losing an astonishing £38.3 million in their Championship promotion season, not that anybody likes to talk about that as it ruins the fairy tale of Plucky Little Bournemouth rising through the divisions with nothing but the charm of Eddie, an old cow and a bag of magic beans.
What are they like now?
This is Bournemouth’s fourth season in the Premier League and in each of those campaigns, they’ve finished between ninth and 16th. As Peter from the excellent Cherry Chimes Blog said when we interviewed him earlier in the week, there is a feeling that the club is starting to stagnate as so many teams do once they’re an established part of the top flight elite, but not quite good enough to move into the top 10 on a regular basis. With the backing of Russian oligarch Maxim Demin, they should in theory have the money to crack the top half of the table, but after bankrolling the club’s rise to the top flight with those huge losses, he seems to want them to live within their means now and just spend the riches earned by being in the Premier League rather than his own vast personal fortune. Where they go from here, nobody seems to know.
Which players should we be worried about?
We saw in the Albion’s 2-0 defeat at the Vitality Stadium back in December just what a talent David Brooks is as he scored twice to single handedly win the Cherries the game. Callum Wilson has become an established member of the England squad this season which makes even more of a mockery of David Burke not deeming him worth signing from Coventry City during his reign of terror as the Albion’s Head of Football and Lewis Dunk will need to keep a close eye on Steve Cook due to the threat his former teammate offers from set pieces. Thankfully, Dunk is rather good at that.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Plucky Little Bournemouth?
The head-to-head doesn’t make for great reading, largely because of the current winless league run that the Albion are on against the Cherries. Bournemouth have won 45 of the 111 meetings to date with Brighton triumphing on 37 occasions and there have 29 draws. Howe himself holds something of a hoodoo over us as well, having tasted defeat just twice in 12 games against the Albion as a manager – once while Burnley boss in 2012 and in Brighton’s 3-1 FA Cup win at the Vitality Stadium three months go.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Plucky Little Bournemouth at home?
Good memories of playing Bournemouth at home are rarer than a funny episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys. The Revell hat-trick game is probably as good as it gets, especially given the way in which he celebrated the third by going absolutely mental in front of the South Stand after being unhappy with both some of the criticism that was coming his way from supporters and Dean Wilkins not picking him. Wilkins had the last laugh though, selling Revell to Southend United two weeks later and bringing in a young striker from Rochdale by the name of Glenn Murray as his replacement. That hasn’t worked out too badly.
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Bournemouth at home?
The Cherries visit to Withdean in October 2010 was a bad day all round. Back then, we weren’t used to being shown live on Sky Sports and as such, weren’t aware of the potential pitfalls of a lunchtime kick off, such as the fact you shouldn’t put away the same amount of pre-game alcohol before midday as you would a 3pm game. One member of the WeAreBrighton.com team learnt this the hard way when they ended the day so drunk that they fell down a flight of stairs in the Duke of Wellington pub, got barred for blocking the toilet and then had to be physically dragged along the ground and onto a train at Brighton Station due to being unable to walk. The football wasn’t much better either; a 1-1 draw in which the Albion conceded a last minute equaliser from the penalty spot after Bournemouth’s Steve Fletcher handled the ball outside the area – which somehow the referee interpreted as a Brighton handball in the box.
Who’s played for both sides?
We’ve already mentioned Cook but he isn’t the only Brighton-produced defender to have moved along the coast with Tommy Elphick following him to the Vitality Stadium shortly after. Glenn Murray was with the Cherries for a brief spell before he returned to the Albion and that gives us another reason to dislike Howe. The story goes that Hughton had wanted to bring Murray back six months before he finally did return, but Howe blocked the move because he didn’t want to lose face over a signing he spent £5 million on leaving the Vitality Stadium after less than a year. Given that we ended up missing out on second place come the end of that season by two goals, it isn’t hard to come to the conclusion that one of the reasons we didn’t get promoted was because of Howe’s desperation not to look silly for signing a striker who was never going to fit into the style of football his teams play.
Other than football, what’s Bournemouth famous for?
Bournemouth is a coastal resort that only really came into being in 1810 as people sought to take advantage of the apparent health benefits of sea water. Its growth was accelerated with the arrival of the railway in 1870 and people have been flocking there ever since, with the town now attracting over five million tourists a year. Holidaymakers aren’t the only people who head to the area either; the nearby Sandbanks peninsula is home to some of the most expensive properties in the country, including the homes of the Cherries’ Russian owner and ‘Arry Redknapp, who recently bankrupted an impressive fourth club when his former team Birmingham City were docked points for breaking Financial Fair Play rules. Still, ‘Arry got paid a small fortune to eat some bugs on live television, so that’s alright.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Bournemouth?
The Albion’s record against Bournemouth might not inspire much confidence, but the games are at least entertaining encounters normally. For that reason, the price boost to 4/1 that our partners at Fansbet are offering on over 2.5 goals and Brighton to win looks very generous. Murray also has that remarkable record of scoring against his former clubs and he is a best priced 7/5 to notch anytime.
Prediction?
Brighton’s terrible record against Bournemouth and Howe managed team is a genuine cause for concern, but if the Albion can hit the sort of performance levels they did in last week’s FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Manchester City they could beat a side with nothing to play for. 2-1 to the Seagulls.
