Beat Leicester and Europa League is on for Cherries

The match against Leicester City this weekend is big not just because Bournemouth want to get points to secure their Premier League status, but picking three points off Leicester would start to open the door towards an outside chance of catching Burnley and trying to finish in the top seven. The games may be running out, but each match now is having massive implications on the final standings of the table.

The King Power stadium.

Leicester City have stumbled of late at home having had a couple of draws to lower placed teams in Crystal Palace and Stoke City. If they lose more momentum now they will have invited AFCB into the race for a Europa League place and that in itself heaps more pressure on Claude Puel and his team as they have perhaps most to lose in this game.

There has been a bit of a swing in focus for Leicester City which was overshadowed by the Mahrez transfer that never happened to Man City, but now that February's games have almost gone their fans are starting to look a bit more critically at what is happening on the pitch. A 5-1 hammering by Man City could happen to any team, but it could well have knocked Leicester's confidence and AFCB will be hoping to catch Leicester at the right time.  Under Puel, Leicester have started to play with more possession and in the midfield they have good passers like Iborra and Adrien Silva who could now start.

Both Kasper Schmeichel and Asmir Begovic have had a hard time of it of late, but they will probably be the players looking to play better than anyone on the field and while both teams have been conceding and scoring in equal measure in recent games a score draw seems a likely outcome, which could just leave the race for a European spot tantalisingly close, but just out of reach for the Cherries. I would expect most AFCB fans would be happy with survival and a decent top 10 finish, but if the opportunity comes for three points at Leicester, AFCB's priorities could ramp up and provide much more interest in the last few games for the run in.

If you are making the trip today I wish you a safe journey. Hopefully AFCB can repay the travelling fans who have had a difficult last couple of weeks. UTCIAD!

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Match Stats
Data powered by StrataBet Data
This week Cherry Chimes has been given the opportunity to use some excellent data gathered by StrataGem for this match.

• AFCB have created 291 chances this season (10.39 chances/game). On average, they have scored one goal for every 8.56 chances created.

• Leicester City have created 266 chances this season (9.50 chances/game). On average, they have scored one goal for every 6.49 chances created.

Possible Leicester City Line up 
provided by StratGem Data

• AFCB have conceded 346 chances this season (12.36 chances/game). On average, their opponents have scored one goal for every 8.24 chances created.

• Leicester City have conceded 362 chances this season (12.93 chances/game). On average, their opponents have scored one goal for every 8.42 chances created.

• AFCB have scored 34 goals this season (1.21 goals/game).

• Leicester City have scored 41 goals this season (1.46 goals/game).

Possible AFCB line up

AFCB Subs: Boruc, Simpson, Surnam, Pugh, Ibe, Mousset, Defoe

• AFCB to win 47.37% based on Leicester's home games and Bournemouth's away games for the last two seasons in this league.

• Average goals scored and conceded by these teams = 2.80 goals (calculation based on the goals each team have scored and conceded this season).

AFCB Away Form
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Leicester City Home Form
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