Bournemouth will host Fulham at the Vitality Stadium on Boxing Day in the Premier League. The Cherries defeated 10-man Nottingham Forest 3-2 over the weekend. They secured their third straight victory in incredible circumstances. The Cottagers fell short of Fulham 2-0 at home.
Preview (Bournemouth vs. Fulham)
At the City Ground on Saturday, the detested referee Rob Jones gave Bournemouth the greatest kind of early Christmas gift when he controversially dismissed Forest defender Willy Boly for two bookable offenses during Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tricky Trees debut in the first twenty-five minutes. Even so, Garibaldi, who had ten men on the field, fought gallantly as Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga both broke through the Cherries’ defense. However, by the time Wood headed home, Dominic Solanke had already scored twice. The Bournemouth striker demonstrated his aerial prowess with another spectacular header.
Hat-trick hero Solanke led the wild Cherries celebrations as Bournemouth improved their mid-table standings. They shooting up to 12th place in the standings, behind Wolverhampton Wanderers on goal difference. With an incredible 16 points from the last 18 available in the Premier League, Antonio Iraola’s team is now only 90 minutes away from winning the Premier League four times in a row—a feat Bournemouth has never accomplished in a single season.
Fulham is currently in an unfortunate 13th spot in the Premier League table, but they have just a point deficit to make up to Chelsea, Wolves, and their next hosts. Following their run to the EFL Cup semifinals, Fulham’s loss to Vincent Kompany’s basement battlers was a harsh wake-up call. The Cottagers have lost their last three away Premier League games and are without a win in their last eight away games since narrowly defeating Everton on the opening weekend.
Team News
Lewis Cook, the midfielder for Bournemouth, suffered a groin injury and had to leave the game at the 29-minute mark. He will now have to fight for his health to play on Boxing Day. Bournemouth did not come out of their five-goal spectacular with Nottingham Forest undamaged. Despite taking a serious hit to the head on Saturday, Adam Smith is expected to recover well. However, Hemed Traore (illness), Max Aarons (thigh), Tyler Adams (thigh), Lloyd Kelly (thigh), Ryan Fredericks (calf), and Emiliano Marcondes (foot) are still unaccounted for. Iraola allayed concerns that Scott might sustain another injury.
Raul Jimenez has been suspended for three domestic games. He will serve his third and final game this week for Fulham. Adam Traore (hamstring) and Tim Ream (calf) are also not likely to return until their encounter against Arsenal. Though their defeat to Burnley raised no new worries. Silva will surely consider making a few changes in light of that forgettable showing. Rodrigo Muniz started up front instead of the suspended Jimenez. But after failing to influence in his 64 minutes on the field, Muniz may now be replaced by Carlos Vinicius, and Harry Wilson, the former loanee of the Cherries who played at the Vitality in the 2019–20 season, may lose his spot to Bobby Decordova–Reid.
Bournemouth 2-1 Fulham
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