(Football news) This is the first meeting between the two teams since Manchester City easily defeated the Cherries 6-1 at Etihad Stadium on November 4.
Following the crushing loss at the Etihad, Bournemouth had a winning streak at the end of the previous season, winning six of their final seven league games until Boxing Day. The Cherries haven’t been able to celebrate triumph in 2024, though, as they have lost all six of their recent top-flight matches.
After suffering that heavy defeat at the Etihad, Bournemouth hit a purple patch towards the end of last year and claimed six victories from seven league matches up to Boxing Day. However, the Cherries have since failed to win any of their last six top-flight fixtures and are yet to celebrate success in 2024.
Andoni Iraola’s side were on course to claim maximum points at St James’ Park last weekend as they were leading 2-1 against Newcastle United courtesy of goals from Dominic Solanke and Antoine Semenyo heading into stoppage time, but former Cherries winger Matt Ritchie came off the substitutes’ bench to net a 92nd-minute equaliser and rescue a point for the Magpies in a 2-2 draw.
Only Burnley (two) have collected fewer points than Bournemouth (three) since the turn of the year, and while their bid to secure a top-half finish has become all the more difficult, there are no immediate fears of entering the relegation picture as they sit 13th in the Premier League table and eight points clear of the bottom three.
Although victories have been hard to come by for Bournemouth, finding the back of the net has not been an issue for Iraola’s men as they have scored at least once in 15 of their last 16 league games, netting 28 goals in total – the only exception being a 4-0 home defeat to leaders Liverpool last month.
Bournemouth will hope to make the net ripple again on Saturday as they endeavour to end their 19-game winless league run against Manchester City – the longest such streak without success against an opponent in English Football League history.
Tuesday night’s narrow 1-0 home triumph over a determined Brentford team had Manchester City to battle for all three points, three days after they miraculously salvaged a valuable point in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
In front of a nervous Etihad crowd, Manchester City found it difficult to break through a strong Bees defense until talisman Erling Haaland took advantage of a slip from fellow Norwegian Kristoffer Ajer to sprint through on goal and coolly slot what turned out to be the game-winning goal past Mark Flekken in the 71st minute.
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