Bournemouth vs Brentford predictions: Evanilson the pick of Cherries’ attackers
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- Bournemouth are ninth after letting a two-goal lead slip in their 2-2 draw with Tottenham
- Brentford lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa and start the weekend in 12th position
- Recommended bet: Evanilson to score
Bournemouth are only five points off fourth place but they should be closer, having let Tottenham recover last Sunday, in a game in which the Cherries could have easily scored more than two goals.
Brentford’s poor home form continued last weekend against Aston Villa, but they have been excellent on the road and have every reason to believe that they can win this fixture.
Team news
Illia Zabarnyi is available again after suspension and should return to the centre of Bournemouth’s defence alongside Dean Huijsen.
Julian Araujo, Adam Smith, Marcos Senesi and Enes Unal all remain injured for the Cherries.
Sepp van den Berg, Rico Henry and Michael Kayode are back in training for Brentford, but Aaron Hickey, Josh Dasilva, Fabio Carvalho, Igor Thiago and Gustavo Nunes are all definitely out with injuries.
The stats
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Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham means that they have not won any of their last four games in 90 minutes across all competitions, losing their last two Premier League home matches to Liverpool and Wolves.
Brentford’s loss to Aston Villa was their eighth consecutive home match without a win, with the Bees drawing two and losing six of those fixtures.
Since returning to fitness, striker Evanilson has scored in two consecutive games for the Cherries.
Brentford are unbeaten in their last five away games, winning each of the last four and only conceding once during that run.
Prediction
Bournemouth and Brentford may well have started the season with similar aspirations, but it is Andoni Iraola’s team that now have more to play for.
While Brentford are safely positioned in lower mid-table away from any danger, the hosts are still in contention to qualify for next season’s Champions League and face Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals next weekend.
That gives the Cherries more motivation on one hand, but also ramps up the pressure on a team that have the sort of upcoming fixtures to suggest that they should still be competing for Europe come May.
The return of Evanilson is therefore a welcome one for Iraola, who has been making do without a natural striker and the Brazilian — who also scored in the reverse fixture — has made an immediate impact since being reinstated to the team.
Brentford’s away record suggests that they can give Bournemouth a tough game, but while the result may be difficult to predict, an entertaining encounter with plenty of goals seems guaranteed.
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