Despite deploying a much-changed team from the one that fell to a 4-3 defeat against Leeds United a few days earlier, the Cherries proved too sweet for the Toffees in the EFL Cup and blew them away 4-1, leaving interim boss Gary O’Neil “delighted”.
Tuesday’s victory ended a five-match winless run for Bournemouth (D1, L4), but they must now look to go again and secure a crucial win that could see them leapfrog Everton and pull away from the bottom three.
Bournemouth ought to be confident, as not only do they hold a psychological edge from Tuesday’s win, but they’ve never lost a PL home game against Everton in five meetings (W3, D2).
That record actually makes Bournemouth the side Everton have faced the most on the road in the PL without ever winning.
Having made 11 changes himself, manager Frank Lampard called out the individual performances of a number of the second-string who lined up on Tuesday night and vowed defiantly that “on Saturday, we’ll look and play different!”
A much better performance, and indeed result, is needed as questions are starting to be asked of the former Chelsea boss by the Everton fan base.
It’s easy to see why as they’ve won just one of their last seven competitive matches (D1, L5), and Evertonians making the long trip down south again won’t be doing so with much hope given their team’s terrible away record, with their 16 away PL points earned since the start of last season fewer than any other ever-present side in that time (W3, D7, L16).
Key battle: Bournemouth's Philip Billing (26) has scored four goals from just ten PL shots, giving him the best conversion rate in the division for players who’ve attempted 10+ efforts.
On his return to the starting XI, expect goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (28) to be busy given his Everton side have allowed more shots on their goal than any other PL side (236).
Hot streak: In their last league game, Bournemouth became the first-ever PL team to lose consecutive matches despite leading by 2+ goals each time (against Tottenham and Leeds).
