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Key events
2 min: The hosts begin on the front foot. Mathias Jensen tries to loft a ball in from the Bees’ right but Brentford clear it. Dasilva then hares down the left wing and Brentford win the first corner of the night. They look dangerous immediately.
First half kick off!
Let’s go.
Sky Sports are experimenting with some ‘extra access’ tonight. They filmed the referee’s pre-match chat with the managers and they also had a chest-cam on Vitaly Janelt of Brentford during the warm-up.
Brentford would move above Liverpool, into eighth in the Premier League, with three points tonight.
Bournemouth are on 16 points, a single point above the three sides that occupy the bottom three places: West Ham, Everton and Southampton. A victory, indeed any kind of positive result, would gynormous for them after the terrible run they’ve been on, and in context of the form that Brentford are in.
Five minutes or so until kick-off in south west London.
You’ve got time for a quick read of these match reports:
Having spoken to Brentford’s Frank, the ever-brilliant Cates goes and has a word with Gary O’Neil, the Bournemouth manager. Is he encouraged by other results today, for the teams around them in the Premier League table?
“I don’t look at the other results,” O’Neil replies, displaying a straight bat. “My full focus is on what’s happening here … we need to improve, we need to pick up points … we’re not worried about other teams.”
“Big boost [to have Neto back in goal] … he’s worked hard to get back ahead of schedule.
“Kieffer [Moore, up front] has got different strengths [to the injured Dominic Solanke] … the injuries we’ve had have been to big players … it’s tricky when you’re newly promoted. But the boys are in a good place. We’ll give a good account of ourselves this evening.
“There’s going to be tough spells in there [across the season] … [but] the next game’s coming and it’s an opportunity to put points on the board.”
“Brentford are a good side. They are direct. They ask you a lot of questions … the boys are ready to stand up to it.”
On Sky Sports, Kelly Cates has a chat with Thomas Frank: “Very nice [to have Ivan Toney back]. Ivan is a key player for us. He’s done so well in general … his goals of course but also his presence, his leadership … it’s always nice to have the best players on the pitch.
“Rico [Henry] has a minor calf strain, hopefully he’s only going to miss this game.”
Will they be playing 4-3-3? “We’ve been successful in the 3-5-2, so we will try to stick to that … of course we like to have the flexibility in general.
“I’m a positive person … of course we want to beat every team.
“We will come flying out. We will be aggressive, we will be cool, we will be brave and hopefully we can get three points.”
Rob Smyth continues to clockwatch the bejesus out of all those 3pms in the Premier League, Championship and Football League:
Full-time scores in the Premier League:
Brighton 3-0 Liverpool (!!)
Everton 1-2 Southampton
Nottingham Forest 2-0 Leicester
Wolves 1-0 West Ham
Everton have lost to Southampton, 2-1, and they are now in the bottom three. The club’s board members including Bill Kenwright stayed away today due to a ‘credible threat to their safety’. They are really in a horrible state.
You can email me or tweet @LukeMcLaughlin if you have anything interesting to contribute. In truth, you could do it even if you don’t.
Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City was the score in a captivating derby earlier today. Reaction, analysis from Jonathan Wilson and Jamie Jackson’s report are all here:
Team news
Brentford’s Rico Henry has been ruled out this evening with a calf strain but Ivan Toney is back having missed two matches with a knee injury, and starts up front alongside Yoane Wissa and Josh Dasilva in what I think will be a 4-3-3 formation.
For Bournemouth, the Brazilian Neto returns in goal ahead of schedule, after a hamstring injury, but Brooks (thigh), Fredericks (illness), Stanislas (knock), Tavernier (hamstring) are all out. Kieffer Moore will play up top.
As it stands Brighton lead Liverpool 2-0, Everton and Saints are locked at 1-1, Forest are leading Leicester 1-0 and Wolves also lead West Ham 1-0. Follow the conclusion of the Premier League’s 3pm kick-offs with Rob Smyth, right here:
Preamble
Bournemouth recently being bought by a Las Vegas-based businessman, Bill Foley, invites any number of gambling-themed similes. Foley may fear he failed to hit the jackpot with his recent investment: since he took control of the club from Maxim Demin last month, the Cherries have lost five consecutive games in all competitions, conceding 12 goals on the way. A costly run of bad beats. Foley also founded the NHL team Las Vegas Golden Knights – much more of this and 16th-placed Bournemouth will be skating on increasingly thin ice in the battle to avoid relegation.
Early days, though, and while Thomas Frank’s ninth-placed Brentford are in excellent form, Bournemouth also face upcoming fixtures against the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle. If Gary O’Neil’s men are going to avoid five months of trapdoor-related anxiety, this is the kind of fixture they must go all-in on winning.
It will be tough. The Bees are unbeaten in six, with only four defeats in the league thus far, and have realistic ambitions of an assault on the European qualification places. “We will move forward with an ‘always advance, never retreat’ approach that has defined all of my endeavours,” Foley said when he arrived. As seasoned poker players say, you should always raise or fold: never call. Could Bournemouth make their hand on, or certainly near, the river?
Kick-off: 5.30pm
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