Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe returns to familiar surroundings on Sunday afternoon, as his Magpies side head south to meet Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League.
The visitors to the South Coast edged out Southampton 1-0 on the opening weekend, despite going down to 10 men early on, while the Cherries struck late to rescue a point in a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Match preview
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For the most part of the 2023-24 Premier League season, Andoni Iraola's work in the Bournemouth chair was met with plenty of plaudits as he masterminded their best-ever top-flight points total, although a three-game losing run to end the campaign was a mark on his record.
The Cherries were only a few moments away from a fourth straight loss in the top flight at the City Ground, where Chris Wood's opener for Nottingham Forest would ostensibly prove decisive, until Antoine Semenyo popped up with an 86th-minute leveller.
However, the goalmouth action largely paled into insignificance due to the sickening ankle injury suffered by Forest midfielder Danilo, and Bournemouth now arrive back at the Vitality refreshed and rest for their opening Premier League home match of 2024-25.
From November 2023 onwards, Bournemouth only suffered three top-flight losses on their own patch - two of which came against Liverpool and Manchester City - although their last home game of 2023-24 also saw them go down 2-1 against bottom-half battlers Brentford.
Summer sadness often engulfs the Vitality Stadium too, as Bournemouth have now failed to win each of their last eight Premier League matches in August, only scoring three goals in that sequence while shipping a mammoth 23, a rate of almost three per game.
![Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe pictured on May 22, 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/25/eddie-howe_1.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe pictured on May 22, 2024 [IMAGO]")
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Newcastle also made the net ripple on just one occasion in their opening fixture of the campaign, but that solitary strike from Joelinton proved to be enough to send Southampton back to St Mary's empty-handed, in what their fans probably felt was poetic justice.
Howe's crop were fighting an uphill battle for over an hour due to Fabian Schar's red card, as the Swiss defender foolishly leaned his head into Saints attacker Ben Brereton Diaz, who saw an opportunity to get his opponent banished and succeeded with a dramatic fall.
However, Brereton Diaz and his teammates had no answer to the steadfast resilience of Newcastle's 10 men, and the Magpies could now achieve a feat that they have not managed since the Kenny Dalglish days of 1997 - win their opening two games of a Premier League season.
Shutting out Russell Martin's men at St James' Park also saw Newcastle end a six-game sequence without a clean sheet in the top flight, but shut-outs may be a thing of fantasy at the Vitality; the Magpies' 19 away games last term produced a staggering 76 goals in total.
Newcastle conceded two of those efforts in a 2-0 loss to Iraola's side at the Vitality last November, and they have now gone four top-flight games without a win against the Cherries, last prevailing in this fixture when Howe was in the South Coast dugout in 2020.
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While the stricken Danilo sustained an ankle injury that will sideline him for months last weekend, Bournemouth's troops all emerged unscathed from the 1-1 draw, where new signing Dean Huijsen made his full debut in the backline.
Huijsen earned his opportunity thanks to Marcos Senesi's head injury and recent illness, although the Argentine could be back in action here, which is more than can be said for Tyler Adams (back), David Brooks (shoulder) and Enes Unal (foot).
With Unal absent, Dominic Solanke now donning the Tottenham Hotspur strip and new signing Evanilson unlikely to be considered for a start just yet, Semenyo should act as Bournemouth's attacking focal point, fresh from becoming just the seventh man from Ghana to score 10 Premier League goals.
As for Newcastle, Schar has incurred a three-game ban for the Brereton Diaz incident last weekend and is one of two Magpies suspended for the weekend alongside Sandro Tonali, but the Italian will make his long-awaited training return next week.
Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles will both be out until 2025 with their knee injuries, so the door has swung open for Lloyd Kelly to make his full Premier League debut for Newcastle against his erstwhile employers.
However, another former Cherries man in Callum Wilson is still working his way back from a back problem, while Lewis Miley is targeting a return from a metatarsal fracture in October.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Cook, Scott; Ouattara, Tavernier, Sinisterra; Semenyo
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Pope; Livramento, Kelly, Burn, Hall; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Gordon
We say: Bournemouth 0-2 Newcastle United
Only salvaging a point against Forest in the dying embers, Bournemouth could find themselves fighting a losing battle against the Newcastle defence - even a decimated one - if Southampton's fruitless pursuits are anything to go by.
As such, we have faith in the Magpies - who have scored 10 goals in their last three Premier League away games - to end their recent hoodoo in this fixture.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
