Does it mean more to beat the Saints anymore?

Playing Southampton is something I look forward to. It's a game where there hasn't been much history and yet it's a game I desperately want AFCB to always win. Southampton have traditionally always been favourites and the bigger club. There's not a lot you can do about that in a short period of time, but I feel a bit different coming into this derby game - Bournemouth are probably favourites for once!

Southampton couldn't have picked a much harder ground to visit this Saturday.

Does it mean more though to beat Southampton than any other team? A few years a go when Bournemouth were struggling to get anywhere near Southampton I would have said yes. Now, I don't have that inner feeling that beating Southampton is better than winning, for example, against Man City, Arsenal or Spurs. For one, we haven't seen AFCB beat Spurs  or Man City in the Premier League yet, and when the team has had amazing wins against Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea, it has been a really uplifting experience as a fan. These are the games that now put the biggest smile on my face when AFCB get the win. Southampton have dropped down the rankings.

That doesn't mean to say that beating Southampton is important? Losing to them last season at St Mary's was hard to take, knowing that they were really desperate to win the game with their Premier League existence hanging by a thread. Bournemouth didn't have the killer instinct that day and Dusan Tadic ran the game, much to Saints' fans relief. This year they don't have Tadic, but they have got Danny Ings who will be looking to hurt his former team-mates at AFCB by playing out of his skin. So I'm keen that AFCB can show Ings that the Cherries are still a great club and the best one to play for on the south coast.

Advertisement

Coastal Garden Buildings

I'll clap Danny Ings, like everyone else hopefully does in the stadium, because he played some fantastic football for the Cherries, and I really loved his enthusiasm for the game when he got his chance at Dean Court. But now its AFCB v the Saints - yeah, it still matters - I want to win! UTCIAD!

Premier League AFCB v Saints preview In other news, look out for the SkySports and BT Sports channels tonight for a preview of the AFC Bournemouth v Southampton game. I appear on the video along with Sam Davis, I'm told, off of the Back of the Net podcast and Kris Temple of BBC Radio Solent. It should be on one of these channels sometime after 6pm on Friday night.

Competition - Cherry Chimes' T-Shirts are back!
Send in your score predictions for AFCB v Southampton. Tweet your score prediction to @CherryChimes before Saturday 12pm to be in with a chance of winning a Cherry Chimes' T-Shirt.

We will pick a winner from the correct entries if there is more than one fan who correctly guesses the right score.

Finally, look out for Cherry Chimes answering questions on AFCB v Southampton on That's Liquid Football.