Bournemouth v Crystal Palace preview: Cherries and Eagles meet on south coast
A run of five defeats in six Premier League (PL) games (W1) is largely behind that, with a bruising 2-0 defeat against Chelsea on Tuesday marking Bournemouth’s fifth successive winless away game (D2, L3).
Such poor travelling form places added importance on winning at home, but having failed to score in four of their last seven home league outings (W2, D2, L3), that certainly isn’t a foregone conclusion.
Yet a 3-0 win against Everton in their last home PL outing showed signs of recovery and Bournemouth could now win successive PL games on home turf for the first time since February 2020.
Those hopes are perhaps boosted with mid-table Crystal Palace the next visitor to the South Coast, a side who have won just one of their last nine PL away games (D4, L4).
Serial winning Palace boss Patrick Vieira will expect a reaction from his side after their humbling 3-0 home defeat against Fulham on Boxing Day, which he admitted in the aftermath that his side “did nothing to deserve to win”.
In fact, it’s not just against Fulham that Palace did little of note, it’s now two successive PL games in which the Eagles have failed to even muster a shot on target.
But while Palace are now in real danger of becoming the first team since 2003/04 to fail to muster a shot on target in three consecutive games, scoring in nine successive PL H2Hs (W4, D3, L2) at least indicates brighter times could be on the horizon, as they bid to avoid losing three straight league games in over a year.
Players to watch: Kieffer Moore has scored three goals in his last two PL home games and is the only Bournemouth player to score more than once at home in the league this season. Always in the thick of the action, Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has clocked up one goal, five assists and three yellows in ten personal career appearances against Bournemouth.
Hot stat: Palace have won just one of the five PL games this season in which they have scored first (D2, L2).
