Football Season Guide

After having one of the leakiest defences last season Bournemouth really need to show much better things at the back in the new campaign if they want to preserve their elite status. The long-serving manager Howe hasn’t been hugely active on the transfer market so far, but still the signing of a new left-back suggests that Rico will be preferred ahead of veteran Daniels as a starting option. The main transfer this summer as far as Howe was concerned was the arrival of the holding midfielder Lerma from Spain for a club-record fee, he was top of Howe’s shopping list, and the Colombian is expected to become key figure for the Cherries. The Cherries also added a new attacking midfielder to their squad, although Brooks is inexperienced at this level and he is seen more as a backup option. Howe should continue using his favourite 4-4-1-1 formation, with the Norwegian King set to start behind one of Wilson or Defoe. The fact that none of the regulars departed Bournemouth this summer must help the team’s synchrony in the opening months of the season, but long-term injury to one of the most solid wingers Stanislas will put pressure on the underperforming Ibe and Fraser at least until Christmas. Ibe’s two years at the club since joining for a club-record fee from Liverpool have been a major disappointment, but as he is still only 22-years-old the winger could potentially have a much better year this time around. Defensively Ake remains the main hope for better fortunes, while his usual partner Steve Cook is one of the most dangerous centre-backs from set pieces and between them they have the potential to score at least 7-8 goals if the deliveries are good. Bournemouth like to use lots of short passes in the middle of the park, with their home stadium by far the smallest in the Premier League in terms of pitch size and audience capacity, which usually allows them to congest the play and battle it out. Things are much harder for the Cherries on the road as they find it difficult when stretched to cover much larger spaces.