The last time that Bournemouth visited the Gtech Community Stadium it was all about trying to get into the Premier League.
Now, it’s all about staying in the top flight for Gary O’Neil’s side.
Following a six-game unbeaten run - including a goalless draw with the Bees at the Vitality Stadium in early October - to begin O’Neil’s tenure, Bournemouth have taken just three points from their last eight matches to see their advantage over the bottom three cut to a single point.
Team News
Toney set for start
Thomas Frank confirmed Ivan Toney will start on Saturday after the striker recovered from the knee injury picked up against West Ham United.
Shandon Baptiste (groin) has trained fully this week while Aaron Hickey will play his first minutes for the B team on Friday night following an ankle injury.
Pontus Jansson (hamstring) is also closing in on a return, with Frank Onyeka (hamstring) still a few weeks away.
For Bournemouth, Neto, David Brooks and Marcus Tavernier all missed the last game due to hamstring injuries.
Neto is the most likely of the trio to make tomorrow’s game with Tavernier definitely out.
Ryan Fredericks and Junior Stanislas have also been struggling with knocks while Jefferson Lerma missed the FA Cup defeat to Burnley due to a knee problem.
Lerma is expected to return to the heart of the midfield tomorrow, but Gary O’Neil will likely have late decisions to make on the others.
Adam Smith is suspended after picking up five yellow cards.
Opposition View
O’Neil: Brentford have done incredibly well
“I think Brentford have done incredibly well," said Bournemouth head coach Gary O'Neil during his pre-match press conference.
"Thomas Frank has been there a long time now; he has a clear style of play. Their players know what is expected of them, they’re difficult to play against and they make it a real tough game.
"They’re direct and a big threat from set plays and counter attacks.
"Ivan Toney is a handful up top, so they’re good side, they know what they are, and it will be another tough test.
"The Premier League game here was 0-0 and it was a hard-fought game. We’ll have a real good go up there and hope to put points on the board.”
The Opposition
Bournemouth
Dumped out of the play-off semi-finals by Brentford a season before, Bournemouth started like a house on fire last term, before a momentary slip at the top was seized upon by Fulham, who never dropped away.
As had been the case in 2020/21, the Cherries stumbled towards the turn of the year but, this time, they learned from experience, regained their footing and returned to the Premier League with a game to spare.
Over the summer, in much the same way the Bees did when they were promoted, the Dorset club kept the majority of their squad together and complemented it with a handful of signings, including Ryan Fredericks from West Ham United and goalkeeper Neto from Barcelona.
The only issue was that head coach Scott Parker had not made a conscious choice to be particularly selective with his signings. The club did not give him significant backing in the transfer market and the bookmakers were not kind in their opinion as a result, making the Cherries odds-on favourites to slip back down to the Championship before a ball had been kicked.
As the curtain-raiser dawned, Parker publicly aired his concerns.
“We’re six days out from the start of the season and we’re way short of where we need to be. That’s just the cold, hard facts,” he said.
“We barely have any defenders. We lost eight players at the start of the season. This squad is much weaker than it was two months ago when we got promoted. Of course, no disrespect to what we’ve got, but I didn’t anticipate to be where we are this close to the start of the season.”
Though it was refreshing, from a neutral perspective, to hear a manager speak so honestly, needless to say the board were irked.
And 32 days after those comments, Parker was sacked after a joint top-flight record 9-0 defeat to Liverpool, though it is widely believed the thrashing was not the sole basis on which the decision was made.
First-team coach Gary O’Neil stepped up as interim manager the very same day and, over the next six weeks, oversaw two wins and four draws in his first six games - including a goalless draw against Brentford at the Vitality Stadium - which, at one point, lifted the Cherries as high as eighth in the table.
The honeymoon period could not last forever. Though Bournemouth lost four of the next five before the break for the World Cup, three of those defeats were settled by just a one-goal margin; they gave Tottenham a run for their money by leading 2-1 until the 73rd minute, when Ben Davies and Rodrigo Bentancur struck to turn the game in Spurs’ favour.
At the end of November, O’Neil was deservedly handed the managerial role on a permanent basis but, since returning to domestic action, he and his players have received something of a wake-up call.
Over the festive period, they lost to Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Manchester United - granted, a challenging run. But they did so without scoring a single goal, which has contributed to a quick slide down to 16th - a point above the relegation zone.
Now, however, they are a few weeks into a new era on the south coast.
In mid-December, Las Vegas-based businessman Bill Foley and his partnership Black Knight FC - within which actor Michael B Jordan plays a key role - bought the club from Maxim Demin for a fee thought to be around the £100 million mark.
The new ownership group has ambitious plans for the club, which include developing the Vitality Stadium and the training facilities, as well as investing in the academy and the women’s team.
But most importantly, there will be money for O’Neil to spend to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window.
O’Neil has been promised the backing his predecessor craved and it might just help Bournemouth preserve their Premier League status.
The Gameplan
With Tom Crocker, sports reporter for Bournemouth Echo
“With Adam Smith suspended, it’ll be interesting to see if O’Neil reverts to a back three to try and compensate. He says he prefers a back four and I think that is still probably more likely, with Dominic Solanke supported by either Kieffer Moore or Philip Billing up front.”
Read the full interview with Tom Crocker here
Stats Zone
It’s a numbers game. Playmaker Stats preview Saturday’s bout with Bournemouth
150 Only Man City (144) and Liverpool (149) have committed fewer fouls than Brentford (150)
92 Brentford rank top for most shots blocked (92)
287 The Bees are also top for most aerial duels won (287)
473 Only Liverpool (577), West Ham (509), Man City (507) and Spurs (488) have completed more accurate long passes than Brentford (473)
12 Ivan Toney is third in the PL goalscoring charts with 12 goals. Only Haaland (21) and Kane (15) have scored more
79 David Raya (79) ranks top for most saves across UEFA’s top 5 leagues this season
195 Raya is also top of the pile for most accurate long passes (195)
59 Ben Mee (59) and Toney (50) are second and third respectively for most aerial duels won, only trailing Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic (72)
23 Only James Tarkowski (40) has blocked more shots than Ben Mee (23)
30 Marcus Tavernier ranks joint-top (with Gabriel Jesus) for most successful dribbles completed
39 The Cherries have conceded more goals than any team in the top flight this season (39) – shipping more goals from set-pieces (13) than any team
55 Dominic Solanke ranks second for most unsuccessful touches (55). Only Palace's Wilfried Zaha (66) has taken more
0 Bournemouth are one of only four teams yet to score a goal from the penalty spot (plus Southampton, Liverpool and Palace) – and no team have conceded more goals from the spot than the Cherries (5)
The Boss
Gary O’Neil
Gary O'Neil’s playing career included stints at Portsmouth, Walsall, Cardiff City, Middlesbrough, West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City and Bristol City, before ending his career with then-Championship side Bolton Wanderers.
In August 2020, O'Neil took his first steps into coaching, when he was appointed as Liverpool under-23 assistant manager, where he worked until he joined Bournemouth as first-team coach in February 2021.
After former Cherries boss Jonathan Woodgate was sacked, O’Neil remained at the club and was a part of the coaching staff that got the club promoted to the Premier League under Scott Parker in 2021/22.
O'Neil was placed in caretaker charge by Bournemouth following Parker's dismissal at the start of this season.
He began his tenure unbeaten after six games which resulted in him being nominated for a Premier League Manager of the Month award for September.
Having picked up 13 points from 11 league games as caretaker manager, O'Neil was appointed as Bournemouth's permanent head coach at the end of November, signing an 18-month contract.
Classic Clash
Brentford 3 Bournemouth 1 (Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs, semi-final second leg, 22 May 2021)
Match Officials
Jarred Gillett set for repeat of Play-Off semi-final
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistants: Simon Long and Harry Lennard
Fourth official: Andy Madley
VAR: Andre Marriner
Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett
Born on the Gold Coast, Australia, highly rated A-League referee Jarred Gillett emigrated to England in 2019 to study at Liverpool John Moore’s University, specialising in research on children with Cerebral Palsy, and went onto make his EFL officiating debut in April of that same year.
Sunday’s game will be Gillett’s sixth game in charge of Brentford.
Brentford’s wins with Gillett in the middle have come at the Gtech Community Stadium against Bournemouth: a 2-1 Sky Bet Championship success in December 2020 and then the following May’s 3-1 Play-Off semi-final victory.
Gillett made history in September 2021 becoming the first overseas official to referee a Premier League match when he took charge of Watford v Newcastle United.
Since then, he’s gone on to take our 2-1 home defeat to Norwich City and a pair of draws this season, against Leicester City and Chelsea.
Bournemouth 22/23
192 fouls – 8th in Premier League
31 yellow cards – 12th in Premier League
0 red cards – joint-fewest in Premier League