Bournemouth vs Manchester City 02/03/19

02 March 2019

An out-of-form Bournemouth team faces the most challenging task out there as they welcome Manchester City to the Vitality Stadium.

Winless in their last four Premier League outings (D1, L3), the hosts are desperately trying to bounce back and prevent a further downfall. Disastrous defensive displays from his players continue to trouble Eddie Howe, as his side conceded 11 goals in their last four PL fixtures. Bournemouth’s tally of 53 goals allowed after 28 rounds is the league’s third-worst, with the Cherries conceding 2+ match goals 17 times so far. But, Howe’s men have pulled off three victories in their previous five PL home clashes (W3, D2), which could encourage the local fans ahead of this weekend’s showdown. Thanks to the fact Howe prefers to go all out at home, Bournemouth have scored over 1.5 goals per match in all of their seven PL home triumphs this term. However, that approach cost them dearly against the top-five teams, with all Arsenal, Man Utd, and Liverpool scoring 2+ match goals at the Vitality Stadium.

On the other hand, the visitors come into this meeting off the back of a narrow 1-0 home triumph over West Ham, obliged to pick up all three points to keep the pressure on Liverpool. Currently sitting just one point adrift of the league leaders, the reigning holders seem to be enjoying a purple patch having secured four successive PL wins, scoring 12 goals while conceding just one in the process. A potential worry for Pep Guardiola could, however, be the fact his players have lost three of their last six PL road trips, with two of them coming against the teams from the bottom half of the table. With seven clean sheets in 13 PL road games, the Citizens have the second-best defensive road record having conceded nine goals so far. Another promising fact for Guardiola is that his men put together three straight road wins over Bournemouth, allowing the hosts to find the net only once along the way.