Wilson and King to take fight to the Villa?

While none of AFCB's strikers has been particularly prolific in pre-season, it will be a close call as to which strikeforce Eddie Howe decides to employ against Aston Villa. My feeling though is that he may lean towards giving Josh King the chance to stride out alongside Callum Wilson as the Cherries' new and menacing front line. Max Gradel and Lee Tomlin may just be kept on the sidelines for emergencies in the first game having both had a hectic week.

Who will partner Callum?

That would be a disappointment also to Yann Kermorgant and perhaps Tokelo Rantie (a loan move to Cardiff has been strongly rumoured for TK), but in playing King and Wilson there is an onus on Callum to set high standards again, and Josh King will have been elevated to a position where the manager is telling him that he has the qualities to be a leading striker at the club. The physicality, pressure and pace of the Premier League will be new to most of the AFCB squad and in time the manager may find that his first thoughts on players are not what he ends up on relying on for later games. King has scored a couple of goals in pre-season as has Rantie and Wilson and at times the choice of one striker over another will be difficult. Gradel certainly has the profile to be the Cherries biggest star if he hits it off and Christian Atsu might also get people off of their seats. Yet, I have a voice in the back of my head saying that Josh King might be a much better player than many fans have him down to be and if he gets a great start what will that do or his confidence?

Yann has competition.

Yann Kermorgant might be considered by some to be the safe option. He is reliable and has been a good provider of goals as well as scorer. His dead ball prowess is also important to the team so to leave him out is never going to be an easy choice. Yet, if the Cherries are going to take a few risks it is probably more profitable if they look positively at games when they are at home. The explosive potential of King and Wilson or the speed of Stanislas or Gradel, is ideal for putting visiting teams under pressure at Dean Court, whereas possession and control may be more of a necessity away from home where Yan Kermorgant might come into his own this season. of course there is also Lee Tomlin now and whether Eddie wants his presence to hold on to the ball and perhaps play five in midfield at times will be what we'll all be looking out to see. What all of the players would love to get is AFCB's first ever Premier League goal.

While the first game is always considered massive in terms of who gets selected it is the players that get a run of several games in the team that will carry the Cherries forward. For that reason it will be intriguing to see how the striker options pan out over the season and of course there is still a few weeks in the transfer window to go.

Who do you want to score AFCB's first Premier League goal - add a comment on the end of this story.