AFCB fans will be treated to the extra game of the Carabao Cup fourth round match against Middlesbrough tonight and it's been a while since AFCB have played the Boro. Middlesbrough currently sit 13th in the Championship having had four wins, five draws and four defeats the most recent of which was a 0-1 home defeat to high flying Cardiff City.
What ever side Gary Monk picks, they have quite a few players that have been in the Premier League and while they might not bring many fans for the game we can expect a tough contest. Middlesbrough were one of the favourites to get promotion back to the Premier League and this competition might be a bit of an obstacle in that aim if they start to get ideas that they could go a long way. It is a frustrating period for Boro who have not won since they beat QPR 3-2 on 16 September.
A good cup run is always a feel good factor, and I think this year more than most Bournemouth need to do well in one of the cup competitions to show they are not just one of the also-rans and have a real desire to get to a major cup competition final. It has been the Premier League that has always been the number one goal of the club but there should be ambition for silverware as well.
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| Middlesbrough last visited Dean Court in April 2017. |
In the Carabao Cup Middlesbrough came through the last round with a 0-2 away win against Aston Villa. Villa had Tommy Elphick sent off in that game after 58 minutes when the scores were 0-0, so they did have some help from Villa in getting to this stage. On that night Boro played Patrick Bamford up front and Daniel Ayala was in defence along with Ben Gibson and the midfield included summer signing Johnny Howson. AFCB fans might hope that Darren Randolph is picked to play in goal, considering his wretched record against the Cherries, but they also have Konstantopolous who is most likely to mind the goal.
What ever side Gary Monk picks, they have quite a few players that have been in the Premier League and while they might not bring many fans for the game we can expect a tough contest. Middlesbrough were one of the favourites to get promotion back to the Premier League and this competition might be a bit of an obstacle in that aim if they start to get ideas that they could go a long way. It is a frustrating period for Boro who have not won since they beat QPR 3-2 on 16 September.
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Whether Bournemouth have the momentum with them we will see, but we are likely to see a changed side to the one that played up at Stoke City. The excitement could well be in seeing Callum Wilson make his comeback in an AFCB first team starting 11 and it would seem a logical step for him to play in this match. But Josh King might also feel he needs a game having missed out last weekend, so Eddie Howe will have plenty of strike options to think about.
A good cup run is always a feel good factor, and I think this year more than most Bournemouth need to do well in one of the cup competitions to show they are not just one of the also-rans and have a real desire to get to a major cup competition final. It has been the Premier League that has always been the number one goal of the club but there should be ambition for silverware as well.
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| Possible AFCB line up for Middlesbrough game. |
Subs: Ramsdale, Aké, A Smith, Hyndman, Stanislas, King, Ndjoli
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