Bournemouth to end the year with a massive game

A few months ago it might not have seemed a big deal to be playing Brentford away. But things have moved on and the Cherries need to find their winning form again against a side that rivalls them for a high finish this season. A win against Brentford would confirm Bournemouth solidly in second position in the Championship and set up a second half of the season when they could be soon take pole position for promotion.

Guess who is back training with the Cherries? And he's out of contract!

But Brentford have got plenty about them. You have to go back 10 league home games before they were beaten by Preston North End at the Community Stadium. They have the league's top scorer in Ivan Toney on 16 goals and Marcuss Forss is not a bad shot either with seven goals and has just signed a new five-year deal. Their form was highlighted in recent matches by beating Newcastle United to get to the Carabao Cup Semi-final and they managed to come from 1-0 down against Cardiff in their last away league match to win 2-3.

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Add to that Brentford's defence which is the meanest in the Championship and suddenly the task ahead for Bournemouth doesn't look nearly so simple, considering that the Cherries have stumbled to a couple of draws in their last five games. It will, of course, be AFCB's first league game at the new Community Stadium. Whether the long wait for this game will help the Cherries is yet to be seen, but I had hoped by now that Arnaut Danjma would be available. However, I suspect Danjuma might need a few more days. Bournemouth need to freshen the side up a bit to try and get back some rhythm and flow to their game which was so impressive in early-December. Jason Tindall did say Josh King and David Brooks will be available, but the game might come too soon for Chris Mepham, who is a bit behind Arnaut Danjuma in his fitness recovery. Jack Stacey is even further behind that.

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The unexpected news is that Jack Wilshere is training with the Cherries again. This should certainly have kept morale high among the players to have such a talent training with them. While nothing has been discussed about potentially signing him, it would surely be a great boost to Bournemouth's promotion push if they can add him to the squad in January.

Possible AFCB line-up

AFCB Subs: Travers, Rico, Gosling, Billing, Ofoborgh, Riquelme, Stanislas, Surridge, Anthony 

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The Disrupted Season (2019-20) completes the story of Eddie Howe's reign at AFC Bournemouth 
- it's available now for £11.49 as a paperback - visit Amazon to order

AFCB Away Form
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Brentford Home Form
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