Brentford head to Bournemouth on Saturday for their final away fixture of the Premier League season (3pm kick-off).
Thomas Frank’s side drew 0-0 with Fulham last time out, while the Cherries lost 3-0 to Arsenal. Analysis, team news, match officials and more - here's everything you need to know ahead of the Bees’ penultimate game of the 2023/24 campaign.
Pre-match Analysis
Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Bournemouth and Brentford share many similarities
After a goalless draw with Fulham last time out, Brentford make the trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Like that Fulham fixture, this could well be another close game against difficult opposition – especially at Vitality Stadium.
Andoni Iraola's team have lost just five games at home in the Premier League with Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers the only teams to leave with all three points this year.
There's certainly no shame in Bournemouth losing to three title challengers and a Champions League-chasing team with Wolves the only 'oddity' from that group.
Indeed, the Cherries are currently on a six-game unbeaten run at home in the league with the most recent game in front of their fans being an impressive 3-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.
That good home form is in contrast with Brentford's underwhelming away form this season. Two-thirds of the Bees' defeats this season in the league have come on the road with only Sheffield United (14) losing more away games than Brentford (12).
To add a bit of silver lining to that statistic going into this game, Brentford may have won only four away games this season but that's just one fewer than Chelsea, Newcastle and Wolves – a win this weekend would put them about average for away wins in the league this campaign.
Looking at the overall stats this season, the two teams are pretty close on a lot of things. Brentford have had fractionally more possession on average (44.5 per cent) than Bournemouth (44 per cent) while conversely, the Cherries' pass success percentage (77.1 per cent) is marginally higher than the Bees' (76.4 per cent).
Defensively, Bournemouth have faced on average 14.1 shots per game while for Brentford it's 14.5, although Brentford have conceded fewer goals (60) than this weekend's opponents (63).
Offensively, it's a similar story: both teams have scored 52 league goals this season.
Going into this game there has been plenty of talk about Ivan Toney's 10-game goal drought (albeit punctuated with a goal for England against Belgium back in March) while Bournemouth will be looking at Dominic Solanke, who has 18 Premier League goals this campaign, to add to his tally.
Brentford's much-improved defence will be looking to keep Solanke quiet this weekend allowing Toney to hopefully break his duck.
Certainly, Thomas Frank is confident that the goals will return for the striker and usually after a drought there's a flood of goals.
Indeed, Toney's last goalless run came back in the 2021/22 season when he went eight games without a goal for Brentford before scoring eight in his next six games.
But the real parallel is to be found in Toney's Peterborough United days. During the 2018/19 season, Toney went on a 10-game goalless run towards the end of the season with, just like now, only two games remaining.
That time Toney scored three in his final fixtures of the campaign – something that, if he could replicate this year, could prove the difference against Bournemouth.
Scout Report
Iraola repays board’s faith by steering Bournemouth to record Premier League points tally
There were questions raised over whether Andoni Iraola was indeed the right man for the job when, after the first nine Premier League games of the season, Bournemouth were camped in the relegation zone and without their first win.
Gary O’Neil had steered the Cherries to a second successive season back in the top flight before being hastily dismissed, though owner Bill Foley had made it clear the decision to replace him with the former Spain international was about bringing a new identity to the club.
Implementing something as complex as that takes time, so when it looked from the outside as though Iraola was under pressure just a matter of weeks into his new job on the south coast - with his side among the teams mentioned in the embryonic relegation conversation - it could not have been further from the truth.
The pressure he placed upon himself was great, however, which he made clear when Bournemouth picked up their first win of the season against Burnley on 28 October, more than two months after opening weekend.
"We're relieved because we know we needed to win this one,” he told Sky Sports. “It was a must-win for us playing against a team in a similar situation. We needed this first win, at home, with the help of the supporters.”
The 6-1 thrashing away at Man City the next week was soon forgotten about after a run that, in hindsight, may have defined their season. They won six and drew one of their next seven games, which included a first-ever win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and were up in 12th by the end of 2023.
Even so, Iraola was frank in his assessment of his team’s progression after the 3-0 win over Fulham at Vitality Stadium on Boxing Day. He said: “We're not as bad as we looked at the beginning of the season; we're not as good as we look now probably today. We're somewhere in the middle."
He was right to exercise a bit of caution with his words because a seven-game winless run followed.
They never looked like dropping back down towards the bottom of the table, though, particularly given another purple patch followed, where they dispatched Burnley, Luton Town and Everton in March to fully distance themselves from it all.
With no cup runs to chase down, from April onwards, the focus has been finishing as strongly as possible – the cliché every club rolls out at this time of the season. But Bournemouth are certainly doing that, with a 3-0 win over Brighton on 28 April having taken them to a new record Premier League points tally of 48.
Star striker Dominic Solanke has also reached 20 goals for the second time in three seasons and hit his 75th for the club in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United on 13 April.
Breaking the 50-point barrier for the first time would be huge – and give Cherries fans hope they might even be able to push on further next season.
In the Dugout
Andoni Iraola
A right-back by trade during his playing days, Andoni Iraola came through the ranks at Athletic Bilbao and made his debut during the 2003/04 La Liga season, following two years in the Segunda Division with Bilbao’s B team and year with CD Basconia – effectively the club’s C team – before that.
Over the 10 seasons that followed his debut year, Iraola astonishingly missed only 26 league games, during which time he was part of the squad that finished as runners-up in the Copa del Rey twice, once in the Europa League and once in the Spanish Super Cup. Between 2008 and 2011, he earned seven senior caps for Spain.
He featured considerably less during 2014/15 - his final season at San Mames – but captained Lehoiak in his final game for the club, in a third Copa del Rey final defeat, this time against Barcelona.
Iraola then signed for New York City of the MLS, where he spent 17 months, before retiring in November 2016.
Just over 18 months later, he was handed his first managerial role with AEK Larnaca, but lasted only until January 2019 after winning 12 of his 29 matches in charge of the Cypriot First Division club.
That summer, he joined CD Mirandes where, in his only season at the club, he masterminded a run to the semi-final of the Copa del Rey for only the second time in the club’s history.
In August 2020, he took over at Rayo Vallecano, whom he led to promotion from the Segunda Division in his first season in charge. Los Franjirrojos finished 12th in their first season back in La Liga and 11th last term, which led to an approach from Leeds United last February, which was rebuffed by the club’s board.
However, he left at the end of the campaign when his contract expired and joined Bournemouth in June.
The Gameplan
With Tom Crocker, chief sports writer for Bournemouth Echo
Tom Crocker, chief sports writer for Bournemouth Echo, explains how Andoni Iraola is likely to set up his side on Saturday afternoon:
“It will essentially be a 4-2-3-1 and, given the absentees due to injury, illness and suspension, the line-up will likely be very similar to what it has been for the past couple of games.
“Expect to see Bournemouth press high and waste little time in getting the ball forwards given the speed they have up front to exploit.”
Last time out v Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Travers; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Ouattara; Scott, Cook; Semenyo, Christie, Kluivert; Solanke
Read our full interview with Tom Crocker here
Team news
Ajer and Jensen in contention
Thomas Frank delivered a mixed injury update before Brentford’s Premier League game against Bournemouth.
Defender Kristoffer Ajer was withdrawn during the goalless draw against Fulham last weekend due to a facial injury, while midfielder Mathias Jensen wasn’t included in the squad.
But the Bees boss revealed that the duo are in contention for Saturday’s game at Vitality Stadium.
“There were two doubts,” said Frank. “Kristoffer Ajer went off with a broken nose, and Mathias Jensen had a minor injury, but both of them should be available. [Ajer] will wear a mask.”
Frank confirmed that full-back Aaron Hickey (hamstring), who last appeared in the 2-0 win over Chelsea in October, will not play again this season.
Match Officials
Donohue handed first Premier League assignment
Referee: Matt Donohue
Assistants: Simon Long and Mark Scholes
Fourth official: Tim Robinson
Video assistant referee: Christopher Kavanagh
Additional video assistant referee: Derek Eaton
Matt Donohue refereed his first Football League fixture in August 2018.
Donohue has officiated 34 games this season, mostly in the Championship, showing 158 yellow cards and three reds.
Saturday’s meeting between Bournemouth and Brentford is Donohue’s first Premier League assignment.
Last Meeting
Brentford 2 Bournemouth 2 (Premier League, 2 September 2023)
Bryan Mbeumo’s stoppage-time goal secured a thoroughly deserved point for Brentford at home to Bournemouth, in the process extending the Bees’ unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions.
It looked like Thomas Frank’s side would be made to rue a host of missed chances, three of which came back off the post, as goals late in both halves from Dominic Solanke and David Brooks turned the game on its head following Mathias Jensen’s early opener.
However, just as time looked to be running out, Mbeumo beat Marcos Senesi to the ball on the edge of the centre circle, bore down on goal, and calmly slotted past Neto to preserve Brentford’s unbeaten start to the campaign.