AFC Bournemouth is the biggest surprise of the season. This team is on the 6th spot of the Premier League at the moment, just one place below their next opponent Arsenal. Unfortunately for their fans, this team lost two games in a row and their players now seem not too confident of a great performance against the Gunners. So, what’s gonna happen on Sunday afternoon? Find out in the Bournemouth vs Arsenal match prediction and betting tips.
AFC Bournemouth
Before November started, AFC Bournemouth had only two defeats. But they lost both Premier League games they played this month. Still, it seems that they have a pretty good team this season. They had it the last season as well, but their players now seem much more confident than they used to be. And a proof that they’re really good is that England manager Gareth Southgate decided to call up some of them.
What’s gotta worry them is that most of the games they won this season were played against teams from the lower part of the table. And when they played against teams from the top (Chelsea, Man United), they lost.
Bournemouth’s biggest strength in this game is that they’re playing at home. And Vitality Stadium is the place where they beat Arsenal last season, that is, in mid-January. Furthermore, they were fantastic at home this entire season, winning 6 out of 9 games played since the early days of August.
Arsenal
Arsenal played three matches in November and each one of those finished in a draw. But, this doesn’t mean that they haven’t been impressive this season. On the contrary, this is the team that won 11 games in a row from late August to late October.
And they’re without a defeat in the Premier League since August, when they lost to Manchester and Chelsea in matches played within one week’s time. Since then, they’ve been playing at a very high level, which brought them to the 5th place of the Premier League, with only 3 points less than Tottenham. This means that with a little bit of luck, they could go a place higher after this weekend.
But, for that, they will need to beat Bournemouth, something that’s not gonna be easy. Bournemouth are great at defending, plus they play at home, so Arsenal players will have to get even more creative in order to find their way to the net.
Another reason why this might be the case is that Arsenal haven’t been great at scoring. They scored only 2 in the last three games. And the fact that their second-best goalscorer, Lacazette, is struggling with an injury, certainly doesn’t help their confidence.
Team News
AFC Bournemouth
- Adam Smith (injury)
- Joshua King (doubtful)
- Junior Stanislas (doubtful)
Arsenal
- Stephan Lichtsteiner (injury)
- Laurent Koscielny (injury)
- Danny Welbeck (injury)
- Konstantinos Mavropanos (injury)
- Nacho Monreal (doubtful)
- Alexandre Lacazette (doubtful)
Possible Lineups
AFC Bournemouth
Begovic – Ake, Cook, Francis, Daniels – Surman, Gosling, Fraser, Ibe, Brooks – Wilson
Arsenal
Leno – Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Kolasinac – Xhaka, Torreira, Ozil – Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Aubameyang
Bournemouth vs Arsenal Match Prediction
I believe Arsenal are the better of the two. And I think the difference in player quality is huge. Still, knowing how great Bournemouth are at their turf, this game won’t be easy for the Gunners to win. Therefore, we might not see too many goals on this match. But, I think we will see at least one. And it’s gonna be in the net of Bournemouth.
Bournemouth vs Arsenal Betting Tips
- Under 2.5 Goals @2.78 (1XBet)
- Arsenal @1.95 (bet365)