Matching the top teams will be tough for AFCB

Bridging the gap to the top six has taken better teams than the Cherries many years to do. Of course there is the exception of Leicester City this season, but on the whole it is extremely difficult for the clubs that do have a large fan base to challenge some of the regulars who finish in the top four so it is only expected that the Cherries should find games against teams like Spurs a very difficult challenge at the moment.

Eddie Howe looks on at Spurs and will need to
find ways of being more effective against such top sides in future games.

We have seen get strides made by clubs like Southampton and Stoke City but even perennial Premier League clubs with highly rated internationals like Everton are finding this season very difficult to get much consistency. The fact that AFCB have managed to get runs of six games in November and December and four games in February and March unbeaten in their first season at this level is remarkable in itself. Back to back wins have proved hard enough for Man City so with the Cherries putting runs together they have already made the leap from new boys to plucky competitors and the next step is surely to make the side harder to beat. 

It is only those teams with tight defences that regularly finish at the top of the table. Yes, they score many goals as well but winners have mean defences and it is something that the Premier League is not too great at serving up. Even the best teams have conceded more than 30 goals in most cases which is an average of a goal a game.

The immediate task though for the Cherries is just trying to get enough points to survive this season and these remaining games are key to seeing where strengthening is required. Playing Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the next few games is not going to make it easy to keep the goals against column staying low, but AFCB have enough about them to do better in some of these matches than they did against Spurs.

CherryChimes - Fan interview

This is an interview I did with Benji and Nick two Spurs fans before the game against Spurs so you can get an idea of what Tottenham fans were feeling like before kick off. I apologise that there was a lot of background music.

Benji and Nick.

Click arrow top corner for pop out to listen.

Liverpool match moved

The club announced yesterday that the home match to Liverpool will now be on Sunday 17th April at 1.30pm because of Liverpool's Europa League commitments.