Written by billythekid
This Has The Makings Of A Very Good Game
AFCB travelled up to the North East to play a Newcastle United side who had won their last six Premier League games. The Cherries were down to the bare bones with no first team regular outfield players on the bench. But there is a fighting spirit in the AFCB team and they came away from Newcastle with all 3 points from a convincing 1-4 win.
The Cherries on a ten-game unbeaten Premier League run, are back home again at Dean Court in the next game on Saturday at 3 pm. Their opponents are Nottingham Forest and Nuno Espírito Santo their manager has done a very good job this season, his side is unbeaten in their last 8 games and sits in 3rd place in the table, 4 places and 7 points above AFCB. This could be a very good game, with both sides in form and their respective managers could be in the nominations for Manager of the Season.
AFC Bournemouth v Nottingham ForestAFCB Win
Draw
Forest Win
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Nottingham Forest are the only team to beat Liverpool this season in the Premier League so far and they did it at Anfield winning 0-1. They have also won at Southampton, Leicester, Manchester against United, Brentford, Everton and Wolves. Drawn at Brighton and against Chelsea. Lost against Arsenal and Manchester City. At home, they have W 6, D 3 (including our game), L 2.
The last time our two sides met at Dean Court was back last February. Justin Kluivert scored after 5 minutes to give the Cherries the lead, only for Callum Hudson-Odoi to equalise in the 45th minute. There were no further goals in the second half.
In our home games against Forest, AFCB have W 6, D 3, L 2.
All competitions, AFCB have W 9, D 8, L 6.
AFCB Team News
We must be getting near to one or two of our players returning from injury. No new news on injuries have been announced.
AFCB Player To Watch
Justin Kluivert was on top form up at Newcastle with a hat-trick, 4 goals and an assist in the last two games. Ryan Christie was again a workhorse in our midfield, with Tyler Adams, who has got better with each game. Antoine Semenyo, supposedly carrying an injury, is playing well, as is the whole team.
Nottingham Forest Team News
Callum Hudson-Odoi went off injured in their last game. Ibrahim Sangare is also on their injury list.
Nottingham Forest Player To Watch
Chris Wood is probably having his best season in the Premier League, scored 14 goals (equal to the whole of last season) and has 2 assists. Morgan Gibbs-White in their midfield has scored 4 goals and has 4 assists (3 goals and 4 assists in last 8 games) and is always a danger. Anthony Elanga has scored 3 goals and had 3 assists in his last seven games.
The Referee
Craig Pawson is in charge of this game; he was the referee when we beat Manchester United last month.
Matt Stevenson wrote…
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for N Forest. They had two home games (Liverpool and Southampton) and two away games (Everton and Wolves). N Forest have gained 10 points, drawing against Liverpool and beating the others, xG suggests this is a slightly better return than expected as they were outplayed at Liverpool and the games at Everton and Wolves were close. However, N Forest have been significantly outperforming their xG values all season. N Forest have scored 9 goals and conceded 3 with xG estimating 5.97 goals with 5.36.
N Forest have had 5 goal scorers (Wood 4, Gibbs-White 2 and 3 with 1 goal). Elanga has 3 assists and Wood 2.
The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. The away games are most pertinent where N Forest generally sat back, allowing the opposition the ball and looking to break on the counterattack.
The following plot compares summary stats of N Forest and AFCB over the last 4 games.
AFCB have significantly more attempts, but one fewer big chance, and the goals scored are equal. Goal attempts per game conceded are very similar, although N Forest have conceded 2 more big chances, although have only conceded 3 goals to our 5. AFCB have more xG, but xGc is very similar between the sides. N Forest have had two errors leading to chances as have AFCB.
N Forest have a lower possession percentage than AFCB and is one of the lowest I’ve seen (alongside Crystal Palace at 35%). Pass completion is similar. N Forest have a higher percentage of chances created from open play whilst AFCB concede a lower proportion from open play.
Your say…
Topfarrier
Interestingly Forest have only gathered 10 points off teams in the top 10…..maybe that’s down to how they set up against the better sides under Nuno who is a very conservative manager…..expecting much the same here….if we score first I think we win quite easily but if they score it could be a frustrating game…..Brooks could be a very important player in this game. – To join the conversation, please click here.
