Peter Neil Bell's Blog: Cherry Chimes, page 8

Rival Lines: "This is our toughest test yet at the Liberty," says Swansea Oh Swansea

Rival LinesMatch Preview: Swansea City v AFCBBlogger Interview: Swansea Oh Swansea
Twitter: @StevenSOS1987

I managed to catch a quick word with Steven Caroll at the  Swansea Oh Swansea  Fanzine ahead of tonight's game. Swansea City have had a strong start to the season and sit in fourth place just a point behind Bournemouth and they have a very good home record.

CC: Are Swansea City better equipped to make a sustained promotion push this season?

SOS: I think so, we have more squad depth this year which is vital with the schedule being so hectic. All in all, I would say a top-six finish should be the target.

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CC: Steve Cooper has done well in management since he took the Swansea job. What do you like about him as a manager?

SOS: His contacts have enabled us to get high-quality players on loan which is vital when your finances aren’t good. Last season wasn’t convincing at times but once we changed to a back three we clicked and had a late surge into the Play-Offs.

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CC: André Ajew is still banging in the goals for you. Does he look as good as ever this season?

SOS: Yes, he’s still doing the business, we’d be lower in the table without his goals and round play. Keeping him fit is vital for the rest of the season.

CC: What have you made of young striker Liam Cullen?

SOS: Not seen much of him, to be honest, I’d like him to have a run of games to give him a real chance. If not I’d loan him out so he can play regularly.

CC: Do you still wish you had Sam Surridge at Swansea?

SOS: Yes, because we need a striker. He was decent last season and was improving when he returned to your club. But in truth, he wasn’t as good as Rhian Brewster who we replaced him with.

CC: You have only lost one game at home to Huddersfield, so do you see this game as a real test of your home form?

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SOS: Definitely, I think relegated clubs have a fair advantage this term having not lost as many players as they usually would have. Plus you gave Barnsley a hammering last week. This is our toughest test at the Liberty yet.

CC: As I write this, Swansea have the best defensive record in the division with 10 goals against. So who has been the star at the back so far?

SOS: Joe Rodon until he left was immense but Ryan Bennett has been great since replacing him. Marc Guehi has come on leaps and bounds since last year and Connor Roberts is in form of his life.

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CC: Which game would you say was Swansea's best win of the season and why?

SOS: Probably Millwall in October (2-1 win). Purely because we usually struggle against sides who sit deep against us at home

CC: How have Swansea been doing with goals from midfield - anyone we should look out for?

SOS: Goals have been a struggle in general, no one in middle has chipped in with many, Palmer has one, as does Grimes and Fulton.
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CC: How might Swansea line up for this game?

SOS: I’d guess Woodman, Roberts, Guehi, Cabango, Naughton, Bidwell, Smith, Grimes, Dhanda, Lowe, Ayew

CC: What is your score prediction?

SOS: I think we’ll lose this one 2-0.
CC: I was expecting a bolder score prediction from Steven at SOS. Swansea City's home form is impressive and Bournemouth have a habit of losing form very quickly just when you think they have found their stride. I was not overly convinced by the win at Barnsley. While the scoreline was good a better team would have put some of Barnsley's chances away. Swansea might not be scoring many but in André Ayew they have a striker that doesn't miss too many chances. I am playing this one safe expecting a much closer game and a scoreline that might be seen a better result after the game than before - I am going for a 1-1 draw.

Make sure to drop in on the  SOS website to check out more on Swansea City. Thanks to Steven for his fabulous insight on the Welsh club.
Swansea City Home Form:WWWDW

AFCB Away Form:DLWDW
Previous post on Cherry Chimes: Bournemouth are finding the back of the net from all angles

Bournemouth are finding the back of the net from all angles

The goals for column for Bournemouth is starting to look impressive. It is not just that the Cherries's strikers are scoring a lot of goals, most of the outside players have contributed and have got off the mark. That makes it really difficult for opposition teams knowing who is going to be best to mark and it is a sign that the team is playing for itself and sharing the goals around.

Sam Surridge is making his way into AFCB's starting line-up.
It is all the more pleasing as Josh King has hardly been involved. While the Norweigan striker may yet have something to add before a likely exit in January, Bournemouth don't seem short of strikers that can do a job. Sam Surridge has finally been given his opportunity, which I have been calling for over the last month and he is only going to get more confident and more integrated with the team the more often he plays. I don't see him coming out of the team for a while, and that should be an incentive to Jaidon Anthony, knowing that if Solanke or Sturridge take a knock, he is likely to get his chance.

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I would be pleased if Anthony and Surridge can be given the game against Oldham in the FA Cup to start together. It would be good to see how these two young strikers would play together and I have no doubt they are good enough to cause problems for a League One side. While Bournemouth will have Danjuma and Stanislas looking to get more minutes, I think it is important that Bournemouth start to bring Surridge and Anthony through now as next season the club could be in a higher division, and if these players have a good grounding now they may be able to step up. Playing them now also puts them in the window and would raise their price and increase their experience. It's harder for players to learn in the Premier League when there are fewer games and you have fewer chances to get it right.

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While Sam Surridge may well play so well now that clubs start looking at him, that is something that Bournemouth will just have to deal with when and if it happens. It is better that he plays now and enjoys scoring goals so that it becomes more and more natural to him against good teams. If Bournemouth do well enough that they get out for the Championship at their first attempt, then there will have to be serious discussions about what they do over the striker positions. Is Solanke good enough at Premier League level? Could Surridge or Anthony score at the very top level? Do Bournemouth need to go and get another proven striker? It may seem far off in the thinking but it was a January window is when Bournemouth bought Solanke into the club and we have another such window coming up. 

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At the moment Bournemouth are on target for getting near the 99 goals they scored in the 2014-15 season. But goals can dry up with injuries. The ability to bring academy players up though the ranks is working well at the moment, but we will have to see if they are players that can take Bournemouth back to the Premier League. At the moment the signs are good.

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Rico doesn't need to look at goal to score

The win at Barnsley was a welcome three points. Just as pleasing was the goal that Diego Rico scored in the second half that was most unexpected. Diego has been well noted as a crosser and for putting balls in the box, but we haven't really seen him shoot at goal very often and his first goal for AFCB is something we will remember for some time.

Diego Rico has a sixth sense when it comes to taking free kicks.

The way Diego looked when lining up the free kick, I thought why doesn't he have a go at goal. He didn't even look at the goal, but was signalling for players to get in the box. It was a clever tactic and very brave of the Spanish defender as if he had missed he would have had the rath of his teammates to contend with afterwards. As it was, he struck the ball very cleanly and it rocketed into the net with the keeper having no chance. I liked his celebration as well covering up one eye, as if to say, I don't need to even look at the goal to know where it is.
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Bournemouth have suddenly started to look like a team that can score from set-pieces again. While the corner routines have not been coming off there has been plenty of practise on the training pitch with free kicks it seems. That is probably due to the absence of Harry Wilson this season. The players will know that some of them have to step up and fill that opportunity. 

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Junior Stanislas has been the regular free kick taker, but it is good to see he has competition. Junior scored his trademark free kick against Preston North End and now I suppose all eyes will be on David Broks to see when he can pop a free kick in from outside the box. The shooting from outside the area has been terrific this season. Philip Billing also chipped in for the first goal against Barnsley and with Lewis Cook's first goal for Bournemouth the other week, and Danjuma's long-range winner against Norwich a while back, AFCB are accruing quite a catalogue of spectacular goals from distance.

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Whether Rico will be allowed to take more free kicks remains to be seen. It seemed that Steve Cook was certainly hoping that a few more free kicks and corners could be sent his way, so that he could head in a goal and get his scoring off to a start at some point.

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Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Bournemouth crush Barnsley 0-4 to go top

Bournemouth crush Barnsley 0-4 to go top

Match Report3 December 2020Barnsley 0 v 4 AFCB 

A wet and blustery night at Barnsley will test the best of teams and Bournemouth was under pressure in the first half until they started to assert their superiority with two well taken goals. Philip Billing hit an early shot from distance to take the lead on 12 minute and Dominic Solanke made it 0-2 right on half-time. Diego Rico's clever free kick made it 0-3 on 52 minutes and Sam Surrdige rounded off an impressive night for the Cherries, as they stuck four past luckless Barnsley. The Cherries are top of the table for at least a few hours, but Jason Tindall will know that Bournemouth racked up an impressive scoreline without totally dominating the opposition.

Billing gets Bournemouth off to a flying start.

Bournemouth made three changes with Stanislas and Riquelme moving to the bench and Lerma suspended. Sam Surridge, Lloyd Kelly and Philip Billing came into the starting line-up. Josh King and Arnaut Danjuma were still not available.

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First halfBournemouth are playing three at the back. Adam Smith and Rico are the wing-backs. Brooks is playing next to Lewis Cook in the middle. Sam Surridge almost makes the most of a long ball but is beaten by the angle.

Dominic Solanle gets in on the end of a long crossfield ball from Billing but delays too long before the block came in. Bournemouth get round the back and Surrridge picks out Solanke but the header goes over.
Chaplin feeds Mowatt and the long shot is parried away by Begovic. Lewis Cook makes a foul and Barnsley have a free kick just outside the box. Begovic loses it and the clearance cannons off Billing for a corner. The game is really open with both sides making chances.
Bournemouth play from the back and beat the press. Brooks and now Adam Smith comes in from the right and finds Billing. Billing has snuck a long-range shot right in the bottom right corner on 12 minutes. A superbly struck goal, from a sweet left foot. 

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Solanke in the box is denied by the keeper's legs, corner. Solanke just runs out of room before getting his cross in for Surridge. Adam Smith fouls and Barnsley have a good position to strike at goal. Kane puts it miles over the bar.

This is a very fluid game, which is suiting Bournemouth as long as they don't take too many risks in their own half. Bournemouth are playing very much on the break. Woodrow has been booked for a trip on Lewis Cook.

Steve Cook gets a good header out. Adeboyejo finds the ball just behind him and out of reach in the box. Chaplin puts the ball across the face of goal, but there is nobody there for Barnsley.

Helik puts it back across goal at the far post, but Bournemouth squeeze the ball out at the far post some how.
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Lewis Cook robs the ball and Solanke has made it 0-2, outpacing Helik to score on 45+2 minutes. He's scored bottom left corner past the outcoming keeper on a narrow-angle. That makes the half-time team talk easier.

Second halfThere are no changes at half-time. The ball is being played long most of the time with little control. Bournemouth have a free- kick with Surridge falling after Andersen blocked him.
Rico has smashed in the top right corner from the free kick. What a shot! It's 0-3 on 52 minutes. Brooks on the break is forced wide by Brittain.

Barnsley sub Chaplin on 58 minutes and Styles and Adeboyejo. On come Frieser, Odour and Thomas.
Brooks fires a shot over from 25 yards. Brittain does brilliantly coming in from the right and smashing a ball along the goal line, but there is no Barnsley player filling to gamble on it. Halme has replaced Helik on 63 minutes.

Woodrow hits a long shot but Begovic is equal to it, corner. Begovic catches the ball from the corner. Thomas dummies Kelly well, but the shot doesn't curl enough.
Sam Surridge on the break and his shot is half-saved by the keeper but it trickles in. That's 0-4 on 68 minutes. This game is over and Barnsley have been a tad unlucky with such a large scoreline. Bournemouth have scored 29 goals this season and 11 of them have been from outside the box.

Bournemouth sub Brooks and Solanke on 72 minutes. On come Dan Gosling and Jaidon Anthony.  
Barnsley almost catch Lewis Cook out when they press, but they haven't managed to capitalise on it as Steve Cook is there. Andresen has been booked for a foul on Gosling.

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Riquelme is on for Lewis Cook. Riquelme draws a save with his first contribution.
Kane is subbed for Palmer on 82 minutes. Mowatt goes or a low shot but it's off target. Sollbauer is carded for a block on Surridge. Frieser gets a free kick from Rico. Gosling gives another foul away. Billing is feeling it.

Ofoborh and Kilkenny replace Adam Smith and Philip Billing on 90 minutes. There are three added minutes. Begovic saves at his feet from a low cross.

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Bournemouth have put out a marker on what they can do away from home. They rode their luck at times and yet came out comfortable winners. The clean sheet is the bonus being the first away one since the Chelsea win last December. A wide variety of goal scorers again perhaps show that Bournemouth are not missing Danjuma and King as much as they should be. Bournemouth's quality is starting to show through in this league as they top it for the first time this season.

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AFCB 
1 Begovic, 6 Mepham, 3 S Cook, 5 Kelly, 15 A Smith, (Kilkenny 90), 29 Billing (Ofoborh 90),
16 L Cook ( Riquelme 79), 7 Brooks (Gosling 71), 21 Rico,  9 Solanke (Anthony 72), 14 Surridge
AFCB Subs: 23 Travers 24 Ofoborh, 25 Simpson, 26 Kilkenny,  4 Gosling, 19 Stanislas,
20 Riquelme, 32 Anthony, 33 Zemura
AFCB Ratings: Begovic 7, Mepham 5, S Cook 6, Kelly 5, A Smith 6, Billing 7, L Cook 6, Brooks 6, Rico 7, Solanke 6, Surridge 7
Barnsley: 1 Walton, 26 Sollbauer, 30 Helik (Halme 63), 6 Andersen, 7 Brittain, 8 Kane (Palmer 82), 27 Mowatt, 4 Styles (Odour  58), 29 Adeboyejo (Thomas 58), 11 Chaplin (Frieser 58), 9 Woodrow
Barnsley Subs
16 Thomas, 19 Schmidt, 21 Palmer, 22 Oduor, 24 Halme, 25 Miller, 28 Frieser, 32 James, 40 Collins
Previous post on Cherry Chimes - AFCB need to avoid another shock at Barnsley to go top

AFCB need to avoid another shock at Barnsley to go top

AFCB have to be on their game to prevent another shock when they take on Barnsley tonight. The Tykes have been rapidly making progress up the league with three wins in their last five games. This will be the third age in a row where a Bournemouth win would put them top of the league at least for a few hours before the Saturday games, and Jason Tindall and fans are wanting to see a good reaction to their mid-week defeat to Preston North End.

Guess who could be coming back - Arnaut Danjuma.
Barnsley's home form has been particularly impressive with three wins, a draw and a defeat in their last five at Oakwell. Having climbed to 14th in the table, new head coach Valérein Ismaél came into his position in October and has quickly got the team playing some good football. They have beaten Watford at home 1-0 and have held Bristol City to a draw at Oakwell in early October, the latter before they had their new head coach.

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The top striker is Cauley Widrow who already has six goals and scored from the spot in their last game, a 1-2 win against Birmingham City. Their strength in midfield to a large extent comes from Alex Mowatt who was a former Leeds player and he scored the goal to be Watford a few weeks ago. The new head coach has also been quick to start Victor Adeboyejo, a powerful Nigerian striker.

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Bournemouth are likely to turn to Arnaut Danjuma to come back into the side after the team's disappointing result in the week. It will be a tough decision to enable Josh King to come back to the subs bench though, as Jaidon Anthony and Sam Surridge deserve their place in the squad after their recent performances.

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A bigger decision will be who Tindall puts in midfield. If Lewis Cook remains okay after the Preston match when he returned to the team he is likely to start, but Philip Billing and Dan Gosling will be looking to come in for the suspended Jefferson Lerma. Bournemouth won't want to keep missing out on the chance to go top and they need a win to put some pressure on the other top six teams who have closed right up now. Bournemouth have had some up and down performances away from home, with one win in five, and this is an important match setting up the team for December when so many games are to be played. 

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Barnsley are in Tier 3 for COVID-19 restriction, so until they move to Tier 2 they are not going to be allowed to have 2000 supporters in the ground.

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AFCB Away Form
DDLWD

Barnsley Home Form
DWWWL

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - A difficult game for AFCB protégés

A difficult game for AFCB protégés

Playing against Preston North End might not have seemed like a bad prospect pre-game, but it turned out to be the hardest game Bournemouth have had at home so far this season. With Preston streaking into a 3-0 lead, there didn't seem much hope of a comeback or any kind of effective response, but the Cherries managed to get a couple of goals in no small measure to the younger members of the squad.

AFCB's young recruits do extremely well in
a difficult game against Preston North End.
Of course, it was a full starting debut for Rodrigue Riquelme. He played for the first 45 minutes but didn't have a lot of joy in the few moments when he did get n the ball. It must have been quite a big game for him and it will be difficult for him knowing he was subbed at half-time. Jason Tindall said it was just down to a change in formation to get another striker on, but Riquelme will have to pick his head up and show in training that he is worthy of starts in games when needed.

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The man who came on for Riquelme was Sam Surridge and he made the most of his time on the pitch. I think he should really be pushing to be in Tindall's mind for potential starts himself and he has shown he can make an impact from the bench. His heading ability is something different for AFCB and he showed that he is very capable in the box of creating space and getting away from defenders to score important goals.

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Jaidon Anthony was perhaps even happier in coming on to provide the assist for Sam Surridge. He may be annoyed that he didn't keep calm when he had a good opportunity to score himself but that will come with more game time. 

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Jason Tindall was brave to make the changes he did when Bournemouth were trailing so heavily. The subs worked better than the half-time talk and it will have impressed Tindall that his youngsters took the game to Preston North End. The team as a whole might not have played their best football, but there are good young players coming through and if they can provide competition to the more established players we could see the starting 11 change a bit more as the season progresses.

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Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Preston inflict second defeat on the Cherries 2-3

Preston inflict second defeat on the Cherries 2-3

Match report 1 December 2020 AFCB 2 v 3 Preston North End

AFCB slip to their first home defeat and second loss of the season.

This was another chance for Bournemouth to go top with Norwich City playing on Wednesday, but Bournemouth didn't have it all their way. Preston North End have a good away record though and they scored on just 16 minutes when Tom Barkhuizen scored at the far post. Bournemouth were shell-shocked when Sinclair broke and lofted the ball past Begovic from deep to make it 0-2 just after half-time. Preston were simply devastating on the counter-attack and Bournemouth fell into the trap all too easily. While Junior Stanislas struck back with a free kick and Sam Surrdige pulled another late goal back, Bournemouth succumbed to their second defeat of the season.

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Bournemouth brought back Lewis Cook and Diego Rico to the starting line-up, while Rodrigues Riquelme got his first start. Dan Gosling, Philip Billing and Lloyd Kelly dropped to the bench, but Arnaut Danjuma was still missing from the squad.

Match Description
Bournemouth found it hard to get going, giving away a few fouls early on until Junior Stanislas found Jefferson Lerma who shot high and wide. Preston had more of the possession in the first 10 minutes, but Begovic had nothing to do.

Alane Browne barged into Adam Smith but the referee wasn't interested in a penalty shout. Preston North End took the lead on 16 minutes. Bournemouth messed up a free kick and Preston counter-attacked. Tom Barkhuizen then put the visitors 0-1 ahead by putting away Daniel Johnson's cross. It was Barkhuizen's fifth goal of the season. 

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David Brooks cut inside well but saw his shot saved by Rudd. Preston were pressing home their advantage with Maguire shooting from distance and forcing Begovic to tip over for a corner.

Lerma did well on an overlap and Riquelme fired over. Mepham almost converted at the far post from Riquelme's initial cross but put it wide. 

Adam Smith put a good ball through to Brooks but his shot was saved. Preston the took a free kick and Barkhuizen missed with a header. Solanke tried to get to a header but couldn't get it on target. Browne then put a header wide from Ryan Ledson's free kick.

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In the second half, Bournemouth replaced Riquelme with Sam Surridge. Bournemouth pressed and Solanke made a knockdown, but Preston broke away and Sinclair chipped Begovic from 35-40 yards out to make it 0-2 on 48 minutes.

Lewis Cook crossed well and Stanislas had a header saved. Further attempts saw Adam Smith miss a header and Junior Stanislas drags a shot wide. Nothing was coming off for the Cherries and Lewis Cook was booked.

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The game was pretty much decided when Preston scored again following a set-piece. Johnson passed to Bauer who scored on 68 minutes.

Bournemouth struck back almost immediately through Junior Stanislas who converted a free kick to make it 1-3 on 71 minutes. Bournemouth subbed Stanislas, Lewis Cook and Rico to bring on Jaidon Anthony, Philip Billing and Lloyd Kelly.

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Ben Davies and Jefferson Lerma were booked. Begovic then made a save from Johnson.

Jaidon Anthony crossed and Sam Surridge made it 2-3 with a strong header. It was going to be a tense last four or five minutes.

Lerma put a ball in for Anthony, but the shot goes over. Ben Pearson is booked and Bauer has been subbed for Huntingdon. Bayliss also replaces Johnson. Ledson has been booked.

Lerma shoots over.

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The Disrupted Season (2019-20) completes the story of Eddie Howe's reign at AFC Bournemouth - it's available now for £11.49 as a paperback - visit Amazon to order

Summary
Bournemouth slipped up to Preston's strategy to hit Bournemouth on the break. They didn't make the most of the possession they had and were ruthlessly punished by an away side that has done this to other top teams. Bournemouth were 0-3 down before they found a way through. While Junior Stanislas added to his goal tally and Riquelme and Surridge got a half each, the absence of Danjuma is certainly being felt. Sam Surridge will also be pleased to have got off the mark, which might tell Tindall that he does deserve more games than he has been getting.

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AFCB Line-up AFCB Subs: Travers, Simpson, Kelly, Billing, Gosling, Ofoborh, Kilkenny, Anthony, Surridge

Preston: 1 Rudd, 4 Pearson, 5 Bauer (Huntingdon 90+3), 6 Davies, 8 Browne, 11 Johnson (Baylis 90+5), 15 Rafferty, 18 Ledson, 14 Maguire (Potts 90), 29 Barkhuizen (Riis 90), 31 Sinclair 

Preston Subs: 25 Ripley, 23 Huntingdon, 14 Storey, 7 Bayliss, 10 Harrop, 44 Potts, 27 Holland-Wilkinson, 19 Riis, 20 Stockley

Preston North End have players back for Bournemouth game

Bournemouth take on Preston North End tonight knowing that a win could take them top of the table. Preston North End sit just one place above Rotherham United in 18th, and while they have lost their last two games, they have been scoring lots of goals with 17 so far for the season from their 14 games.

AFCB return home to take on Preston North End.

The problem for Preston North End has been in keeping goals out having conceded 21 already. This game will be another good judge of how Bournemouth are doing, compared to Watford who beat Preston 4-1 at Vicarage Road in their last game. Preston also lost 2-1 to Rotherham in early November, so we can perhaps expect it to be a tight game.

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Scott Sinclair and Tom Barkhuizen are Preston's top scorers on five and four goals, respectively. Preston will be without defender Darnell Fisher who was given a three-match ban after violent conduct in the club's match against Sheffield Wednesday. Alex Neil said he was without 10 players from his 25-man squad in the last game. Alan Browne and Joe Rafferty will be available to Preston though as they have completed their suspensions. Ben Pearson and Ben Davies are likely to be starters in defence having been subbed in the second half against Watford just to keep them fresh for the Bournemouth game.

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Alex Neil has commented that he believes Bournemouth along with Norwich City and Watford are the three strongest teams in the division. He has no fit full-backs and used five at the back against Watford. But up to 60 minutes against Watford, Preston were very competitive when they were only 2-1 down. Preston gifted Watford goals though and that should mean they find it equally as difficult to defend against Bournemouth. We should keep in mind though that the last game they won away was a 0-3 demolition of Reading in early November and they also beat Brentford 2-4 away in October.

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There could be a chance for Jayden Stockley, ex-Bournemouth striker, to feature for Preston North End tonight. He has scored once this season. Jayden was on the bench against Watford and has made two starts this season and came on in the 79th minute against Watford. Jayden has also played for Aberdeen and Exeter City before he joined Preston North End in January 2019.

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Bournemouth may well see the return of Arnaut Danjuma and Lewis Cook having missed out at the weekend. Jason Tindall will want to refind some of the goalscoring precision that the team showed against Nottingham Forest and Reading to get the win over Preston North End.

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Preston Away Form
WWWLL

AFCB Home Form
DWDWW

In other news, AFCB drew Oldham Athletic away in the third round of the FA Cup.

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Why did AFCB fail to dominate Rotherham Utd?

There have been some encouraging signs in the last few weeks about AFCB improving their game. The balance against Rotherham United though lacked a few ingredients to take the game away from the South Yorkshire side, and it was surprising that the absence of Lewis Cook and Arnaut Danjuma would make the game so much more difficult.

AFCB remain in second and have to learn the lessons of Rotherham match.

There is no guarantee that Bournemouth would have won the game if they had played a fit Danjuma and Lewis Cook, but the ability to unlock defences was not as potent as we have seen in recent games. It meant Bournemouth were not as well equipped to pin Rotherham back in their own half and the MIllers had their own joy in releasing Joe Mattock on the wing who put n some testing crosses for the Cherries to deal with.

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Bournemouth will have games where they don't have their full complement of regular starters. Dan Gosling and Philip Billing did well enough, but they are different kinds of players and the balance of the team going forward had been altered. Stanislas and Solanke did well, but I think David Brooks benefits when Danjuma is on the pitch, as their double threat on both wings stretches defences, while Stanislas finds the gaps as well more easily when this approach is taken.

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The inability to keep Rotherham tied down showed how much more work needs to be done on defending crosses. Bournemouth were nowhere near stopping Joe attock's cross for the first goal and there were other occasions where crosses caused problems. All credit to Rotherham, they had a real go at Bournemouth and it needed Bournemouth to find their own best cross to get Dominic Solanke free to make it 2-2. It was interesting that Diego Rico was allowed to come on rather than move Lloyd Kelly out to the left-wing, as had been done in the Reading match when Rico had been subbed. Perhaps Rico has been told that he must get his crosses in more accurately, because he certainly delivered a great ball for Solanke to score.

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Whether the return of Josh King, Danjuma and Lewis Cook will give Bournemouth that extra momentum will be seen in the next few games. But the opposition in this league can surprise, as we have seen with several of the bottom six teams now having managed to get points off of AFCB and Bournemouth have another such game at home to Preston North End in their next match.

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Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Cherries miss chance to go top drawing 2-2 a Rotherham

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Cherries miss the chance to go top drawing 2-2 at Rotherham Utd

Match Report Rotherham United 2 v 2 AFCB  28 November 2020

Bournemouth were given a test they didn't really want at Rotherham. While Junior Stanislas scored first from the penalty spot, a couple of goals from Freddie Ladapo either side of half-time gave the Millers a 2-1 lead and the Cherries faced the possibility of a second defeat. A double change, seeing Diego Rico and Sam Surridge come on the pitch, led to Dominic Solanke heading in an equaliser, leaving Bournemouth with half an hour to try and get a winner. It didn't come and Bournemouth had to settle for the point.

Bournemouth find it hard going against Rotherham United.

Bournemouth made two changes which gave the team a less attacking feel. Out came Arnaut Danjuma and Lewis Cook, and they were replaced by Dan Gosling and Philip Billing. It was perhaps surprising that Riquelme who is an out and out winger didn't get a start ahead of Philip Billing with Danjuma being unavailable. Danjuma tweeted he would be back in the blink of an eye as it was only a very minor reason why he was out of the squad.

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It was up to David Brooks to carry much of the running threat that Danjuma would usually bring to the game. But Dominic Solanke was putting himself about and had the first Bournemouth shot, while Junior Stanislas was also very much involved in Bournemouth going forward. Junior had the opportunity to put the Cherries 0-1 up when Solanke was fouled in the box by Jamal Blackman and he scored down the centre of the goal on 18 minutes.

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Rotherham almost found a way to equalise when Begovic had to make a great tip-over save from Jamie Lindsay's header on 22 minutes. It was followed by a chance for Michael Smith who headed wide. The Millers did get back on level-terms when Bournemouth lost the ball in midfield and Mattock's cross was converted at the near post by Freddie Ladapo on 35 minutes.

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Stanislas could have put Bournemouth back ahead at the end of the first half when he was through with Olosunde in close attendance, holding Junior's arm as he got a tackle in. Stanislas then came close with a shot that almost sneaked in at the post. 

Bournemouth came out meaning business in the second half with Stanislas making Blackman have to get down to save straight away, but Bournemouth found themselves 2-1 down when Freddie Ladapo scored his second with chip, come cross, that looped up over Begovic on 50 minutes.

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Tindall subbed Dan Gosling and Adam Smith on 61 minutes and brought on Sam Surridge and Diego Rico. Rico crossed straightaway and Solanke headed in for the equaliser on 62 minutes.

Angus MacDonald went close with a scissor kick that Begovic saved before the follow up was flagged for offside. Solanke then missed a chance to go around Blackman in the Rotherham goal. An audacious chip from Lerma just a few metres into the Rotherham half sailed perilously close to going in with Blackman off his line, but the winning goal didn't come.

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Summary
Bournemouth probably got out of jail with this result. They don't look to be the complete package without Danjuma and Lewis Cook. The run of games is hard in the Championship and it is relentless. Rotherham United are fighting for their lives and with the crosses that Mattock was putting in, Begovic had to be at his best. Junior Stanislas is playing some great football and Dominic Solanke is showing he can score goals at this level, but there are some issues in Bournemouth's defence of crosses and they were exposed in this game. Luckily Norwich City also slipped up and it just closes up the top six with Watford winning their game.

AFCB Subs: Travers, Rico, Zemura, Ofoborh, Simpson, Kilkenny, Riquelme, Anthony, Surridge

Rotherham United: 27 Blackman, 22 Olosunde (Clarke 64), 19 Harding, 20 Ihiekwe, 21 A MacDonald, 3 Mattock, 16 Lindsay, 25 Crooks, 8 Wiles, 24 Smith, 10 Ladapo (Vassel 89).

Rotherham Subs: 1 Johansson, 5 Jones, Clarke, 5 Thompson, 26 Barlaser, 14 Miller,
28 Jozefzoon, 7 Vassel, 9 Hirst 

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