Bournemouth vs. Tottenham: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur meet for the first time ever in league competition on Sunday. Both are seeking a strong response to disappointing preceding performances.
Eddie Howe's side were given their harshest Premier League reality check yet away at Manchester City last weekend. Their gallant attempts to get at the 2014 champions were unceremoniously thrown back in their faces and then some, resulting in a 5-1 defeat.
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"It was our first experience of the top four and we didn’t deal with it very well," Howe said post-match, per Bournemouth's official website. "There was a spell in the first half where I felt we were on top but we couldn’t maintain it."
Failing to maintain a performance level was also on the mind of Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino after his team lost 2-1 at Anderlecht on Thursday.
After the north Londoners' fourth blown lead this season, the Argentinian will be trying to figure out a struggle to see off opponents that has also seen them draw six matches.
"We are very upset about the result and very disappointed but we need to take the positive things, we need to learn to kill the games off and play at 200 per cent every game," Pochettino told his club's website following the Europa League defeat. "When you lose your focus you will pay on the pitch."
Bitterly taken lessons all-round then.
With the Cherries looking to put some space between them and the relegation zone, and Spurs trying to push into the top four, we will find out who has learned more quickly (or anything) from these recent negative experiences.
Date: Sunday, October 25
Time: 2:05 p.m. GMT/10:05 a.m. ET
Venue: Dean Court, Bournemouth
TV Info: No live UK broadcast/Premier League Extra Time (U.S. only)
Live Stream: No live UK stream/NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)
Form Lines
| Bournemouth | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Premier League, October 17: Manchester City (A)—Loss: 5-1 | Europa League, October 22: Anderlecht (A)—Loss: 1-0 |
| Premier League, October 3: Watford (H)—Draw: 1-1 | Premier League, October 17: Liverpool (H)—Draw: 0-0 |
| Premier League, September 26: Stoke City (A)—Loss: 2-1 | Premier League, October 4: Swansea City (A)—Draw: 2-2 |
| League Cup, September 22: Preston North End (A)—Win: 2-2 (3-2 on penalties) | Europa League, October 1: Monaco (A)—Draw: 1-1 |
| Premier League, September 19: Sunderland (H)—Win: 2-0 | Premier League, September 26: Manchester City (H)—Win: 4-1 |
Team News
The visit of Tottenham looks like it will be too soon for Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc with Howe unsure of a time frame for his recovery (see above).
There was more encouraging news over Harry Arter from the club's Twitter feed, while BBC Sport has Mark Pugh, Andrew Surman and Lee Tomlin overcoming respective knocks and illness.
Midfielder Ryan Mason is available for selection for Pochettino again. He travelled but went unused in Belgium midweek.
In addition to longer-term absentees Nacer Chadli and Alex Pritchard, Tottenham's official website has confirmed Pochettino will be without Tom Carroll and Heung-Min Son. BBC Sport has Nabil Bentaleb still unfit and Federico Fazio also on the sidelines.
Predicted Lineups
If Boruc is out, Adam Federici will continue in goal for Bournemouth.
The Australian was criticised for spilling the ball at Wilfried Bony's feet for Man City's second goal last week. Not pointed out so much was the ball-watching from his defence that allowed Bacary Sagna to cross so easily and the Ivorian striker to tap home just as comfortably.
The inaction also resulted in Raheem Sterling's opener. The probable back four of (right to left) Simon Francis, Steve Cook, Sylvain Distin and ex-Spur Charlie Daniels will need to work harder to deny Tottenham such a simple time in front of goal.
With Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman likely to continue central-midfield, Howe's biggest decisions revolve around whom he selects out wide.
Another Spurs academy product in Adam Smith could be the one to drop out, if so, probably making way for his replacement last week Marc Pugh. Matt Ritchie is likely to stay on if that is the case. As well as looking to add to the supply for front-man Glenn Murray, they will need to provide better protection for their full-backs than they received at the Etihad Stadium (more on this later).
Howe has a number of options to select behind or just off of Murray. Eunan O'Kane nominally occupied the role last week, while Joshua King could also be called on. Lee Tomlin could get the nod to try to imbue a little creativity after being dropped for Bournemouth's last two matches.
After starting in the 0-0 draw with Liverpool and not playing against Anderlecht, Danny Rose looks to have moved back ahead of Ben Davies in Tottenham's left-back Premier League pecking order.
That looks set to be the only change from the back five that started versus the Reds last week. Pochettino has more to contemplate further forward, though.
With Eric Dier suspended last week, Mousa Dembele's impressive work covering for the England Under-21 squad in central midfield saw him stake a claim for a return to his regular position (he began this campaign in right midfield).
Dier should be back, but a lethargic "effort" in Belgium from Dembele may seem him miss out at the expense of the returning Mason, with Pochettino surely looking to inject the energy and forward drive lacking in fixtures either side of the international break.
With this and the injuries to Chadli and Son in mind, the positively minded Dele Alli could be moved forward to an advanced, central midfield role that sees Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela rotating with him in from the flanks.
It will leave Spurs without some width in midfield. But given the lacklustre performances of Clinton Njie and Andros Townsend against Anderlecht and the need to have some attacking options on the bench, it may be the route Pochettino heads down. The boss may end up trusting in full-backs Rose and Walker to get forward and provide further service for striker Harry Kane.
Bournemouth Player to Watch: Glenn Murray
Murray's goal at the Etihad Stadium was the one moment Bournemouth's attempts to cut through Man City came off.
Surman's well-weighted pass from just inside the home side's half was cushioned into the striker's path by O'Kane. Murray turned and charged at the City defence, his subsequent shot kindly deflected past the reach of Joe Hart.
In the first-half especially, Bournemouth were ponderous and they paid for it, ripped apart by counter-attacks. Here they struck quickly and precisely, bypassing the Man City midfielders who otherwise read them well.
The Cherries' passing intentions are admirable. No way should the core concept of Howe's preferred style be dispensed with because of early challenges implementing it in the Premier League.
But this goal did show the benefits of looking to play more directly, or rather, succinctly.
The strong, wily Murray is their best tool in making such an approach pay off. It provides muscle up top while still remaining compatible with Howe's more stylish ideals. Having scored in his first two starts for Bournemouth now (following his first in the 1-1 draw with Watford), the summer-window signing will want to prove he can fire his new club to safety.
Tottenham Player to Watch: Harry Kane
One goal in 13 appearances does not make for flattering reading for Kane. That solitary strike in the 4-1 win over Man City has not proved to be a launching point for a scoring run akin to last season's.
Pochettino's logic in bringing him on for half-hour off the bench at Anderlecht was reasonable enough. Spurs were searching for a winner and Njie's efforts up top were proving fruitless, his struggle compounded by a yellow card he was risking seeing doubled against the theatrical Belgians.
Ideally, though, Kane could have done with the night off. The rest would not have hurt, and the thought of not playing may have acted as a minor source of motivation for him to make sure the idea of dropping him would not again cross Pochettino's mind. Instead it just proved another dispiriting outing.
Kane has not played badly in most areas of his game this season. If anything, against Liverpool he held the ball up and chose his runs at the Reds defence better than in some more labourious recent appearances.
But with Spurs not scoring consistently enough from anywhere else on the pitch (at least while Son is injured), they need their main striker to pick up the slack. The Bournemouth game will be an examination of what he and Pochettino are doing to try to break the unwanted pattern.
Key Battle: Who Makes the Most of the Flanks?
Besides the incisive move for Murray's goal, Bournemouth looked at their most dangerous against Man City out wide.
Left-back Daniels' crossing caused Joe Hart and his defence some uncomfortable moments with Murray and later King battling to win the aerial duels. On the right, Francis' attempts to punch a way into the box with carefully planned bursts of acceleration required alert defending.
The trouble was they offered minimal resistance at their own end, with City's full-backs and attacking midfielders Kevin De Bruyne, Jesus Navas and Sterling unsurprisingly wreaking havoc with the space granted them.
In the event Pochettino fields a line-up like the one predicted earlier, Bournemouth may have a little more room to breathe on the flanks.
They will still need to offer something up in response to the forward surges of Spurs' own full-backs, though. They could do this by pushing forward sufficiently to nullify Rose and Walker's attacking threat and expose any lack of cover from Eriksen and Lamela (or whoever is stationed there), and also just working a lot harder to deal with any incursions into their territory.
Spurs may still be able to overwhelm them in the middle of the pitch. But controlling the flanks should give Bournemouth a better chance of dictating the game more to their liking. At least for spells.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Bournemouth win: 9-5
Tottenham win: 7-5
Draw: 12-5
