Back to business: Deepdale up next

Eddie Howe will be keen to bring players minds back to the task at hand this weekend after a glorious week when the Cherries hit top spot in the league for the first time this season. With Tranmere Rovers playing tonight against Shrewsbury it is likely that AFCB will be playing catch up once again on Saturday as they take on Preston North End who sacked Graham Westley earlier this week. John Dreyer has taken over as caretaker manager at Deepale and he will be looking to lift the Preston players as they take on the current league leaders. The Lillywhites have not won at home since September and are currently lying 17th in the division.

Preston's top scorers are midfielder Nicky Wroe, on 10 goals, and striker Stuart Beavon on 9. Wroe was bought by Graham Westley from Shrewsbury after their promotion winning season last year. Beavon has not quite managed to hit the form he had when he was playing for Wycombe but he is an experienced player at this level with excellent finishing accuracy on his day. Last time out Preston were on the wrong end of a 3-1 score line against high flying Yeovil, but Chris Beardsley was the Lillywhites' scorer so expect him to play a part in the game on Saturday.

Looking at Bournemouth's side, one would expect Eddie Howe to play the same team that did so well as Crewe on Tuesday. Marc Pugh may come into the team if he has fully recovered from his cold, while Grabban would start on the wing in Pugh's absence. Charlie Daniels is still sidelined with an ankle injury and the Cherries have acted in the loan market to bring in Marco Painter (26 year old) of Brighton - more on AFCB official website. The 1-4-1-4 formation enables Howe to play Richard Hughes in front of the back four and if the Cherries can counter quickly with their front players it seems to be a system that the team is comfortable with away from home, especially when we have a few players out from the usual starting line up. 

Tommy Elphick is unlikely to travel. The Cherries have hard games coming up against Coventry and Sheffield Utd in the next 10 days so Tommy might be keen to get some playing time before these crucial fixtures, but it is unlikely that will be the case.

We can now expect Matt Ritchie to play on the right wing. It is also quite possible though that the highly rated Ryan Fraser could make his AFCB debut as a substitute in this game and we look forward to that.