What we would give for two home wins?

AFCB go into the Charlton and Reading home matches knowing that six points would set them up very nicely for the rest of the month. getting two wins in a row though has proved pretty elusive and not just for AFCB. The league has not been kind to those who try and predict which clubs will go on a series of wins as some unpredictable results have already closed the top of the Championship up again.

Charlton players at the Goldsands last year on the first day of the season.

Both Charlton and Reading have been accumulating the draws of late that have slowed their progress, but I suspect that both of these teams will come to Bournemouth looking for a win. That should suit the Cherries more than some of the games where they have had to make all the running at home. Good teams though will look for chances to spring a surprise and if you look at the goals for columns, Charlton and Reading fall just behind the Cherries on 14 and 15 goals scored, respectively. That would indicate to me that these games will be close and are likely to be separated by just the one goal if there are to be any winners. While Reading have let in the most goals, Charlton have been really stingy in just letting in 10.

AFCB players warming up at Reading.

So one might expect Charlton to provide the more difficult opposition in trying to get a win over them, while a draw would seem a very likely result. With seven draws already to their name, Charlton are easily the draw specialists and that will have been noted by Eddie Howe. They simply don't give much away and AFCB have to be ready to stop those deadball situations which can give such teams the one clear chance they need to get a result.

While the Reading match may potentially be more of an open game, there is no guarantee and if AFCB have already lost to Charlton, the pressure will be really on our players to get the points in this second match. I expect Eddie Howe to look at the two games together though in terms of how he picks his team and taking the game to these two teams brings plenty of danger, but I don't think it really helps to play for draws at home at this stage of the season. Loading the team with goals is what Eddie needs and that will make his team selections really intriguing considering that Callum Wilson sits out on his own in the goal scoring charts, and Eddie needs to find more goals from somewhere.

If you are wonder what life is really like as an AFCB stats man, make sure you have a listen to all Department's podcast: Peak Performance with Garavan Stewart. either listen on the All Departments' website or scroll down Cherry Chimes' right hand panel and listen by hitting the sound bar.