Bournemouth

Mark Mitchener
BBC Sport senior journalist

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It is nearly time for the derby-that-isn’t-a-derby, as Southampton cross the New Forest to visit Bournemouth in front of the TV cameras on Monday evening.

Lacking a two-way rivalry anywhere, Bournemouth fans will be looking for local bragging rights, while their Saints counterparts painstakingly insist that the Cherries are not their rivals, and will never replace arch-foes Portsmouth in that respect.

Geography aside, two visiting players can expect extremely different receptions at Vitality Stadium on Monday after both joined Southampton during the transfer window.

Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale remains popular with Bournemouth’s fans, many of whom would happily have re-signed him from Arsenal this summer before his move to St Mary’s. Ramsdale was the supporters’ player of the year during the 2019-20 relegation season, still owns a house in Bournemouth and had often been back to watch the Cherries while he was at Arsenal.

Ramsdale can expect as warm a welcome as that afforded to ex-Bournemouth favourite Matt Ritchie when he returned with Newcastle in recent years – but the same cannot be said for another ex-Newcastle winger, Ryan Fraser.

The diminutive Scot remains top of the “unforgiven” list among Bournemouth’s followers for his actions during that same 2019-20 season.

While Ramsdale was winning hearts and minds amid a relegation battle, Fraser famously refused to sign an extension to his contract to cover the end of the Covid-extended campaign.

So there were few tears shed in Dorset 18 months ago when Fraser found himself banished to Newcastle’s Under-21 squad by Eddie Howe, the manager for whom he had refused to sign that extension, and the home supporters are probably relishing the chance to make their feelings known if Fraser features on Monday.

Another man with less than happy memories of Vitality Stadium will be Saints boss Russell Martin, whose two previous visits as an opposition manager in 2021 were both heavy defeats (losing 5-0 with Milton Keynes in the League Cup, and 4-0 with Swansea in the Championship).

But both sides will feel under pressure, with Southampton still seeking that first league win, and Bournemouth, having lost to Chelsea and Liverpool, targeting two winnable games against Saints and Leicester before the next international break.

Tom Jordan
Fan writer

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It has been back to back defeats for AFC Bournemouth, which many people anticipated, especially given that the opponents that we faced were two of the 'big boys' in Chelsea and Liverpool respectively.

With Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City all to play in the next five games, the importance of Bournemouth’s next two fixtures feels colossal. The gap between the sides in the European competitions and the rest of the pack is seismic at the best of times so, without wanting to sound disrespectful, games coming up against Southampton and Leicester City feel monumental for the Cherries if they want to progress.

Performances have been impressive on the whole, but there’s a clear level of quality and a clinical edge in both boxes that Bournemouth just do not seem to have right now. Therefore, getting the job done and earning valuable points against those beneath us could be the key to moving forward.

Valiant displays against three of last season's top seven already is one thing, but only mounting a single point from those matches possibly indicates where we are at. If we want to build on last season's 12th placed finish, we really need to put those teams beneath us to the sword.

All of the games this season have been an absorbing watch, and it's no surprise the TV companies have no qualms with showing us live, but while the brand of football has gone down well with match-going Bournemouth fans, turning the entertainment into points is also just as important.

Only time will tell how things pan out, but the majority of Bournemouth fans still remain confident and optimistic for the season ahead.

Find more from Tom Jordan at Back of the Net, external

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Liverpool and Bournemouth.

Here are some of your comments:

Liverpool fans

Stuart: Liverpool put the game to bed in the first half with an imperious display. Caiomhin Kelleher made some incredible saves while deputising for Alisson. Darwin Nunez worked hard and got a nice reward with his goal. Hopefully he can bag another couple against West Ham in midweek!

Alison: A good result, but it was not as easy as it looked. We made problems for ourselves in the first half. If Bournemouth could finish, it might have been a different story and they played well in the second half. Good luck to them for the rest of the season.

Rae: Luis Diaz is on fire. The midfield of Dominic Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Gravenberch seems to be clicking. We have so many options up front. You never know, there might be silverware at some point this season.

Cyrus: Where is the weakness in this team? The midfield was the final fix required post-Jordan Henderson and Fabinho and Slot's double pivot has fixed it. Gravenberch's arrival might be the difference between contenders and champions.

Bournemouth fans

Charl: Andoni, we can't expect to win every game but sometimes just don't lose! Playing Evanilson was pointless - it would have been far better to play stronger players in midfield to prevent the carnage that occurred and gain some confidence from a draw or narrow defeat. All of that said, you have my total support.

Sudha: They played very well. The scoreline doesn't reflect how well they played!

Tom: A 3-0 defeat is still a defeat. We have got lots to learn and not much time to do it in.

Alec: The whole game was thrown away by a ridiculous goalkeeping error for the first goal. Why play a Chelsea reject when we have a better goalkeeper on the bench?

Ben: It was a shame but we were not good enough. We truly believed at one point that we would be playing European football soon. We really need some promising performances against Southampton and Leicester now.

Gary Lineker presents highlights and analysis from Saturday's eight Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

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• Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth

• Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester United

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Bournemouth have won just one of their last eight Premier League games (D2 L5), with only Wolves (seven) losing more in the competition since the beginning of May.

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Bournemouth thought they had made the perfect start at Anfield when Antoine Semenyo slid home Justin Kluivert's low cross with only five minutes on the clock, only for their celebrations to be cut short by the video assistant referee.

Semenyo kept Kelleher busy in the first half as the Cherries registered 19 attempts for the second successive Premier League game - but they were far too open at the other end as Liverpool cut them open at will.

A Luis Diaz double and a Darwin Nunez stunner gave the hosts a 3-0 half-time lead, making the second-half a mere damage limitation exercise for Iraola's team.

Bournemouth, to their credit, continued to create chances after half-time and went close to a consolation when Luis Sinisterra headed against the crossbar late on, but there was no way back.

To make matters worse, Iraola will now miss next Monday's game against Southampton after picking up a first-half yellow card for remonstrating with the officials.

It was a day to forget for the Cherries, but results like this will not define their season.

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has been speaking to BBC Match of the Day after the heavy defeat: "I think they [Liverpool] were better when it mattered, when the game is on the line. We had a disallowed goal and other chances, but when the game was very open they made the difference when it clearly mattered. The start wasn't very different, but the things you do after 3-0 are not very valuable.

"We feel like we were doing well and having our chances. After the first goal, we lost the intensity and focus - you cannot allow this. The momentum changed and probably a lack of experience [counted]. We are a young team and we need to calm the game after conceding the first goal."

On his booking for dissent: "I think it has been a misunderstanding and I hope we can overturn it. They booked me for asking for a yellow card, but I was asking for an offside. I wanted not an advantage but an offside and there was nothing happening where I could ask for a yellow card. I don't know how this works here, I don't know.

"The problem is that it is not the first game where we have a lot of chances but don't get the goals we expected. Especially at this level, you have to take your chances when you are playing well because for sure they will punish you.

"We did more than enough to score. It is difficult for us to accept. What you do in the boxes makes the difference and we need to improve on certain things."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

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Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

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• Liverpool v Bournemouth

• Crystal Palace v Manchester United

Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.

For week five, he takes on singer-songwriter and West Ham fan James Smith whose debut album Common People is out now.

Liverpool host Bournemouth at 15:00 BST on Saturday.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Arne Slot's side responded well to their defeat against Nottingham Forest last Saturday to win at AC Milan in the Champions League but this is an interesting game and I don't think the Reds will have things all their own way.

Slot has got to marry his side's journey in Europe with their Premier League campaign and that is not easy to navigate. Too many of their players were below their best against Forest, especially Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool's midfield were not quite there either, and they were really wasteful with their final ball, although at the same time you have to recognise that Forest were superb.

Bournemouth are an awkward team under Andoni Iraola and have deserved more than they have got from a couple of games already this season.

I don't think this is going to be easy for Liverpool but I am not going to base this prediction on what I saw from them last week. Instead, because their response was good in Milan, I am going to say they can't play as badly as they did against Forest.

Therefore, I think they will create chances and I am backing them to be a bit more ruthless, and take them.

Smith's prediction: 3-1

Liverpool have got an amazing squad, and they play great football. Manchester City are going to win the league again but I am backing Liverpool to push them really close.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Josh Lobley
BBC Sport Researcher

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League trip to Liverpool (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Iraola gave a squad fitness update: "The only one who is 100% out is Tyler [Adams], which you know. The one who I want to assess today is Dango [Ouattara]. It's probably too early, but he normally has very good recoveries so we'll see. Everyone else is available."

• On Saturday's opponents, who played midweek in the Champions League: "Normally not playing [midweek] is an advantage. But Liverpool are top athletes and we are probably going to face the most physical team in the Premier League. We have to be ready for a challenging game physically, but I think we can match them in this sense."

• On how the game may play out tactically: "I expect an open game. They are very good in transitions and we are also. There is normally spaces. We will have to defend very difficult duels, and I hope we can keep this level [from Chelsea] of defending one v ones."

• On Lewis Cook, who will make his 200th league appearance if he plays on Saturday: "He continues to improve. He was very solid last season; he's a very reliable player. Even in games where we feel that he's not sharp on the ball, his work-rate gives you a lot. These kind of players give you some assurance when you are preparing for a game. I hope he can continue and become even better."

• On Evanilson's penalty miss: "We've talked to him, but he's used to it. He has taken and missed penalties before. I've missed penalties in my career and I know how it feels. You have to try and not let it change your confidence and attitude. It's part of the job. You have to try to forget about it and continue performing well, is what I would suggest to him."

• Iraola's reaction to learning that his side have had the third-most shots in the Premier League so far: "It's good numbers to have. Numbers don't give you points but we are having our chances and creating things. I hope we can continue because the most important thing is to have the chances and I trust my players to score the goals.

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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The issue around the footballing calendar and the demands being placed on players right now is a difficult one.

First, we need to take into consideration the really high demands on the body that go on all-year round with few breaks, especially for international footballers and those in teams competing on multiple fronts.

I know the men's and the women's games are different, but we got exposed to these issues when we went from amateur to professional. There was a lot of loading, a lot of games and the result of that was a higher risk of injury and we have seen a lot of anterior cruciate ligament injuries now in the women's game.

From the fans' side, their point is often that players get paid a lot of money but I think that is irrelevant. That is just the industry players are in and, if you take out the money, they are still human beings.

The governing bodies need to look at who they consult with about changes in the calendar such as World Cups being held in winter and summers where there is just a couple of weeks off before going straight back into it. The changes and fixtures that are put in are there to generate more money, which makes it difficult. As a business, it is about money.

We talk about mental health a lot and you wonder, where is the time to switch off and have that time away from playing? To have that family time which is a deep human need? At some point mentally, if not physically, it will take its toll.

None of us want to see players striking, but players need to be listened to. What do they need to do to make change happen?

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nicola Pearson

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Bournemouth (26) have had more shots from outside the box than any other side in the Premier League this season. Liverpool’s only goal conceded so far this term has come from distance, while 39% of the overall shots they’ve faced have come from outside the box (11/28).

Mark Mitchener
BBC Sport senior journalist

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The two sides of football have been exemplified by Bournemouth’s last two games.

After the euphoria of, frankly, burgling a 3-2 win at Goodison Park where they had been second best to Everton and trailed 2-0 going into the 87th minute, came Saturday evening’s late heartbreak against Chelsea.

Andoni Iraola’s side had more than held their own against the billion-pound Blues, a team with Champions League aspirations. But they failed to take their chances, including that missed penalty, and were beaten 1-0 by a late sucker punch.

Nevertheless, optimism remains reasonably high among the supporters, who feel that Iraola’s men have deserved more than the five points accrued from their first four league games. Indeed, on Tuesday evening, referees’ chief Howard Webb confirmed the VAR officials should not have disallowed Dango Ouattara’s “winning goal” against Newcastle.

For those who pay heed to the metric of “expected goals”, Bournemouth’s xG is the fourth highest in the league after Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City, which points to the number of chances that are being created, in stark contrast to a couple of seasons ago where the Cherries struggled to muster even a shot on target in some games under Gary O'Neil.

Fans trust Iraola’s philosophy – and Iraola himself is publicly backing record signing Evanilson after the striker fluffed that spot-kick against Chelsea. He had scored four out of the five penalties he took for Porto last season, so was a recognised penalty taker.

Having played all of 205 Premier League minutes, it would be very premature to spotlight his lack of goals as the Brazilian adjusts to a new country, new league, new team and new manager.

After all, five years ago, Bournemouth spent a lot of money on a young striker who took fully 18 months and 39 Premier League appearances (granted, mostly from the bench) to register his first top-flight goal for the Cherries.

And it didn’t turn out too badly for Dominic Solanke.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is looking to purchase a club in Portugal to add to his Black Knight multi-club group, amid talks with Lisbon club Casa Pia.

Negotiations with the Lisbon club remain at an early stage as alternatives are considered.

The Portuguese top-flight outfit also have interest from other US-based investors.

But they are attractive as Portugal and particularly Lisbon is a hotbed of domestic talent, with the league becoming an important first step for South American talent when coming to Europe.

Foley, 79, is the lead investor in Black Knight Sports and Entertainment consortium, which begun building a City Football Group-like model - pioneered by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners - to be competitive within football.

The group first bought National Hockey League franchise Vegas Golden Knights before moving into football with Bournemouth in 2022.

They have since purchased a minority stakes in French Ligue 1 club Lorient and Scottish Premiership side Hibernian, while also owning Auckland FC in New Zealand.

In an interview with BBC Sport in the US this summer, Foley said of his plans: “I believe it is realistic because we are putting a great team together, with a lot of younger players.

“We are trying to be careful with how we do this. We have a multi-club strategy so we promote players from Club A to Club B to Club C to Club D. We now have four clubs, and we are about to acquire a controlling interest in another club. It is all designed to give the players a path to the Premier League.

“If we can do that, we should be able to be competitive and not have to kill ourselves financially. We are not a sovereign wealth fund or private equity. We are just simple little guys from America who came over and bought a team."

Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves are interested in Cameroon defender Joel Matip, 33, who remains a free agent after leaving Liverpool during the summer (HITC), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Sam Davis
Fan writer

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Something that is becoming a common theme in modern day football matches is the constant conversation about the standard of officiating and how it affects games. This was exactly the case in Bournemouth's game against Chelsea on Saturday, with 14 yellow cards being handed out!

It felt like the decision making of Anthony Taylor had a negative effect on the game for the Cherries, who are a team that like to play free-flowing football, thriving when games are played at a high pace and tempo. However due to the soft nature of the fouls Taylor was giving - it certainly didn’t help our flow.

That being said, despite the poor choices by the referee on the pitch, we should have taken our chances, an "issue" which is potentially costing us points this season. Fortunately we're in a comfortable position for it not to be a problem.

I feel for Evanilson, with his penalty miss - you can clearly see he is a great player and just needs that first goal to kick start his career in red and black. It just seemed like it was "one of those days" for us, as on any other day, Bournemouth could have very easily taken home the three points.

It feels like referees (or the dreaded VAR) have stunted the points trajectory for Bournemouth this season, but aside from the woes with the officiating, the Cherries are showing some real character and Andoni Iraola is ensuring that we are progressing as a team.

The opening four games of the season have been fun to watch, so as long as the referees and video officials manage to contain their constant interference as the campaign progresses, we sense it could well turn out to be a very successful and memorable one for AFC Bournemouth.

Find more from Sam Davis at Back of the Net, external

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Bournemouth and Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Bournemouth fans:

Charl: A very good performance from the whole team. Bournemouth played with confidence from back to front. Evanilson needs time, as did Solanke - but don’t tell us he played well when he was dreadful. Our subs were disappointing, especially Scott - I expect a lot more from him. Keep Travers in and build the team with him in goal. Unlucky Cherries.

Malcolm: Good performance. Thought we were decent for most of game but could/should have done better on the finishing. Kluivert should have taken the pen. Tired a bit at the end, which is when Chelsea struck.

Fin: Thought we played well, Evanilson looked good other than the penalty miss, which is promising. We were unfortunate to concede so late. After such a good start to the season I think fans can’t complain and, with this squad, we should be in for a good season.

Chelsea fans:

Pete: The first half was dreadful - same old, same old. The second was a bit better; Sancho added some spark, was direct and showed good skills. I thought Vega was decent. The defence doesn't inspire confidence. Against more heavyweight opposition I can't see us keeping any clean sheets.

Matthew: Chelsea were outplayed for most of the game. Poor control of the ball, poor focusing, generally poor passing. Sanchez made no mistakes, which is a first and won us the game. Brief moments of cohesion between the Chelsea players. Bournemouth were a tough team to play. Constant pressing and didn't allow us to settle. They were unlucky to lose.

Nick: A lucky win but credit to Sanchez, who played his best game for Chelsea, and to Sancho and Nkunku for turning the game around. But 14 bookings in a game where there were no bad tackles? I was too scared to shout at the screen in case the ref booked me for dissent.

Gary Linker brings you highlights and analysis from Saturday's eight Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest

• Aston Villa 3-2 Everton