Bournemouth Favourites Against Promoted Cardiff
The 2018/19 Premier League season starts this weekend and there is great excitement ahead of the new campaign. One of the teams which has gone under the radar somewhat in recent seasons is Bournemouth and they continue their fairy tale rise in the Premier League.
The Cherries begin their 2018/19 Premier League campaign with a home match against Cardiff City on Saturday 11th August at the Vitality Stadium.
The first thought in the mind of both teams will be to avoid relegation to the Championship but that may prove easier said than done for Cardiff City.
Bournemouth looked in trouble for much of last season and will be hoping to get off to a better start. They lost each of their first four Premier League matches, including an opening day defeat at West Bromwich Albion and a 2-0 loss at home to Watford.
Preseason has seen a mixed bag of results for Bournemouth and they have won one, draw one and lost two of their last four friendly matches. However, their latest game produced a good 5-2 home win over Marseille.
Home form improved in the second half of last season and Bournemouth won five of their last nine home league games, losing just two of their last ten. Trends show they were an exciting team to watch and both teams have scored in fifteen of Bournemouth’s last nineteen Premier League matches.
Bournemouth have also managed to score 2 more goals in seven of their last ten home Premier League games.
Cardiff City won promotion from the Championship last season by finishing second in the table. Having won their opening match of the season at Burton Albion, Cardiff City never dropped below fourth place in the Championship all season, which is a fantastic record.
However, they are going to find life tougher in the Premier League and Cardiff City were relegated at the first attempt last time they reached the English top flight in 2013/14. Cardiff City finished bottom of the table, winning only two away matches all season.
Their 2017/18 Championship winning campaign was based on playing direct football and they had the joint best defensive record in the Championship but scoring goals was not their strong point. They have brought in a few new faces ahead of the new season but there is very little in terms of Premier League experience in the squad. It will be interesting to see how they cope in this away game.
Team news and Bournemouth are unlikely to have Junior Stanislas available who is injured. However, new signings Jefferson Lerma, Diego Rico and David Brooks are all in line to make their competitive debut for the club.
Cardiff City have every player fit and available and could retain the three at the back system used in their final friendly against Real Betis. Kenneth Zohore is likely to get the nod up-front in what could be a defensive formation.
Playing at home gives Bournemouth the advantage in this game. With Cardiff City looking a good Championship team but lacking in Premier League experience, a winning start to the season is on the cards for the hosts.
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