Friday 4 December 2020

AFCB need to avoid another shock at Barnsley to go top

AFCB have to be on their game to prevent another shock when they take on Barnsley tonight. The Tykes have been rapidly making progress up the league with three wins in their last five games. This will be the third age in a row where a Bournemouth win would put them top of the league at least for a few hours before the Saturday games, and Jason Tindall and fans are wanting to see a good reaction to their mid-week defeat to Preston North End.

Guess who could be coming back - Arnaut Danjuma.

Barnsley's home form has been particularly impressive with three wins, a draw and a defeat in their last five at Oakwell. Having climbed to 14th in the table, new head coach Valérein Ismaél came into his position in October and has quickly got the team playing some good football. They have beaten Watford at home 1-0 and have held Bristol City to a draw at Oakwell in early October, the latter before they had their new head coach.
The top striker is Cauley Widrow who already has six goals and scored from the spot in their last game, a 1-2 win against Birmingham City. Their strength in midfield to a large extent comes from Alex Mowatt who was a former Leeds player and he scored the goal to be Watford a few weeks ago. The new head coach has also been quick to start Victor Adeboyejo, a powerful Nigerian striker.
Bournemouth are likely to turn to Arnaut Danjuma to come back into the side after the team's disappointing result in the week. It will be a tough decision to enable Josh King to come back to the subs bench though, as Jaidon Anthony and Sam Surridge deserve their place in the squad after their recent performances.

A bigger decision will be who Tindall puts in midfield. If Lewis Cook remains okay after the Preston match when he returned to the team he is likely to start, but Philip Billing and Dan Gosling will be looking to come in for the suspended Jefferson Lerma. Bournemouth won't want to keep missing out on the chance to go top and they need a win to put some pressure on the other top six teams who have closed right up now. Bournemouth have had some up and down performances away from home, with one win in five, and this is an important match setting up the team for December when so many games are to be played. 

Barnsley are in Tier 3 for COVID-19 restriction, so until they move to Tier 2 they are not going to be allowed to have 2000 supporters in the ground.

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AFCB Away Form
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Barnsley Home Form
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