Written by billythekid
The Cherries Travel To Leicester Full Of Confidence
After a very good attacking performance in the first half against Saints and scoring three goals in a good win, the Cherries travel full of confidence up to the East Midlands, the home of another side promoted from the Championship last season, Leicester City. The Foxes won the title by beating Ipswich Town by one point, finishing with 97 points. The game is on Saturday at the normal time of 3 pm at their King Power Stadium.
Leicester City v AFC BournemouthLeicester Win
Draw
AFCB Win
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Their manager at the time of winning the Championship title was Enzo Maresca, he was recently at Dean Court with his new club Chelsea who he joined in the Summer. The person to replace Maresca at Leicester City is someone well known to the AFCB fans, Steve Cooper the former Swansea City and Nottingham Forest manager. Cooper was sacked by Nottingham Forest in the December of last season after a poor run of results.
Cooper’s side have had a mixed start to the season, having lost two of their first three games. Their first game was at home and it ended in a 1-1 draw with Spurs. The two defeats were away at Fulham 2-1 and by the same score back at home against Aston Villa. The next two games ended in draws, first away 2-2 against Crystal Palace and then back at the King Power Stadium, 1-1 with Everton. The most recent game was their third away visit to play another London club, this time Arsenal, the fourth side from the capital in their opening six games, it ended 4-2.
The last time our two sides met in the Premier League was in April 2023, a first-half Philip Billing goal was the only goal of the game. That win took the Cherries out of the relegation zone and it was also the start of three away wins in a row. That memorable ‘game’ against Spurs and our game against Saints at St Mary’s Stadium.
In all league games at Leicester, AFCB have W 3, D 3, L 4.
In all competitions, AFCB have W 8, D 5, and L 9.
Leicester City Team News
Jacub Stolarczyk, Patson Daka and Jannik Vestergaard are all out injured.
Leicester City Player To Watch
Wilfred Ndidi has had four assists in his last four games, two against Crystal Palace away. Stephy Mavididi one of three joint leading scorers with two goals, two in his last three games. Then the ‘veteran’ Jamie Vardy, another player with two goals so far this season, a prolific goal scorer over many seasons, who is still one to watch.
AFCB Team News
No new injury worries reported, so just Tyler Adams is out injured.
AFCB Player To Watch
Antoine Semenyo, second leading player in the Premier League this season with 18 shots, (Haaland has 20). Semenyo is our leading scorer with 3 goals and is a constant threat out on the wing. Also after opening his account with a well-taken goal against Saints, Evanilson will be full of confidence going into this game.
The Referee
Darren Bond is in charge of our game, the last time he took one of our games was the home game in April 2023 against Brighton.
Matt Stevenson added…
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Leicester. These were two home games (A Villa and Everton) and away at C Palace and Arsenal. Leicester have gained 2 points, which is potentially generous as they have had the lower xG in every game. Leicester have scored 6 goals and conceded 9 with xG estimating 2.66 goals with 9.82 conceded. The average of approaching 2.5 xG conceded per game is higher than Southampton’s, setting a new record, although this was driven by the 4.62 xG at Arsenal, where, if Leicester had held out for a draw would have been a robbery. It is unlikely Leicester can keep outperforming their xG.
Leicester have had 4 different goal scorers (Mavididi and Justin with 2 each and Vardy and Buonanotte with 1 each). Ndidi has 4 assists and Buonanotte 1.
The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. In the two home games Leicester played with more advanced strikers, against Arsenal they camped in their own half, although this will always be one of the season’s hardest fixtures.
The following graph compares summary stats of Leicester and AFCB over the last 4 games. As with the Southampton game, AFCB are in front in all of the key metrics, although both teams have scored the same number of goals, with Leicester scoring far more than expected.
Neither team plays possession-based football, with both around the 40% mark. Leicester’s value is slightly higher as is their pass completion. Chances created from open play are comparable, although Leicester concede a higher proportion from set pieces.
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