Bournemouth (A) 8pm Monday 16 December Live on Sky

ASLEFshrugged

The bad news is Bournemouth have won three in a row (Wolves, Spurs, Ipswich) and have scored in all of the last eight games

The good news is that we've not lost away at Bournemouth since 2018/19, the season they did the double over us

Iraola has been pretty consistent with his starting XI with six players starting the last five games and four players starting four. RW Antoine Semenyo has only missed one game this season due to suspension

Record signing Evanilson has started 13 out of 14 Premier League matches since he joined

Another summer signing Spanish U21 CB Dean Huijsen has replaced Marcos Senesi who had started 12 out of 13 games before he picked up a thigh injury in the win over Wolves

Other summer singings LW Luis Sinisterra and Mexican RB Julian Araujo are both injured although Sinistera could be back for Monday.

CM Alex Scott is recovering from knee surgery while USA DM Tyler Adams was left out at the weekend with severe cramps but will probably be back by Monday

12 players have scored, Justin Kluivert is top with five but only because he scored three penalties against Wolves, Evanilson and Semenyo have four each

On the bench Burkina Faso LW Dango Ouattara has only had 4 starts this season but replaced Kluivert for the last half hour against Ipswich, provided an assist for Turkish CF Enes Unal (signed from Getafe after half season loan) and scored the winner

Starting XI against Ipswich

Kepa
Smith Zabarnyi Huijsen Kerkez
Christie Cook
Tavernier Kluivert Semenyo
Evanilson

Lukerz

Fabiański
Coufal - Mavropanos - Kilman - Wan-Bissaka
Souček - Paquetá
Kudus - Soler - Summerville
Bowen

Areola, Todibo, Cresswell, Álvarez, Irving, Rodríguez, Guilherme, Füllkrug, Ings

Draw & a decent performance would be ok. Emerson suspended for this.

claretandbluesky

I think we might put in a good one and come away with all three points.

Whitehorsehammer

Points are important but a good performance more so, which so far this season we have seen far too little of.

Lukerz

Something to consider - Soler, Paquetá, Souček & Rodríguez all one yellow away from a suspension.

claretandbluesky

Just in time for Christmas! I bet they all tread carefully against Bournemouth and then go clattering into some as though it's a race at Brighton, Not Soucek however, he is above that.

Joking aside we have many players that get booked too cheaply and act like they are still allowed one each match, oblivious to the totting up rule. I think it was Soler who got one in the last match for pushing the ball two yards away at a free kick in a nothing place, just a waste. My money is on Alveraz being banned again before any of them, he can give that sort of headstart to them no problem.

buffybegood

J-Lo's presser scheduled for 1.15pm

Lukerz

This will be very end to end. We play in a very similar way to Bournemouth. Using the width, the ball doesn’t spend much time in midfield, basketball style game. They play better because they’ve had longer but both managers are probably quite similar in their philosophies.

What I would say, they’ve had a couple of late wins in games they were losing & not playing great in. Had they lost to Everton 2-0 instead of coming back to win 3-2 in stoppage time, & same at Ipswich, they’d be on the same points as us.

Lukerz

Two issues that Lop says we need to check over the weekend. Not sure if one of those issues involves Emerson being banned or there are any injury/illness issues.

Lukerz

The issue we have is we may well lose there, but they’ve beaten Arsenal, City & Spurs at home. They are a good team.

If we do lose, pressure will be back on, even though Bournemouth are a very good team in form. Season is just going to repeat.

Ravel49

J-Lo is only ever one defeat away from the vultures circling
Which I disagree with tbh

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I don't think it's necessarily that, it's that we have barely strung two decent results/performances together all season. Every one of our league wins this season has been followed by a defeat or two.

And good performances become horrible the next game.

jay_in_cpt

Still believe it's just aa matter of time, Monday was a stay of execution, but won't be for long IMO...

Lukerz

Who would you replace him with, Jay?

jay_in_cpt

Lukerz said:

Who would you replace him with, Jay?

That’s thankfully not my decision to make. !!

Wouldn’t mind seeing Slaven return on a short term basis, but that’s more a heart than head choice… ❤️


And in honesty, I don’t know, I simply feel a change is DEFINITELY necessary 👍🏻⚒️

buffybegood

jay_in_cpt said:

Lukerz said:

Who would you replace him with, Jay?

That’s thankfully not my decision to make. !!

Wouldn’t mind seeing Slaven return on a short term basis, but that’s more a heart than head choice… ❤️


And in honesty, I don’t know, I simply feel a change is DEFINITELY necessary 👍🏻⚒️

Bilic first time around is a bit of an outlier of an appointment by Sullivan, and I'm not sure we'll see it repeated. All his other appointments, Grant, Allardyce, Moyes, Pellegrini, Moyes again, and most recently Lopetegui had a lot of experience and at least some of it in the PL. Pellegrini could maybe be argued to be more expansive than the others although his CV did include a fair amount of success even if it was somewhat dated by the time we rescued him from semi-retirement in China (very much a vanity appointment by Sullivan imo).

Although, it has to be said, that Bilic does meet Sullivan's number one requirement, he's out of work atm so no compensation would be payable to another club for his services.

chicagohammer

Wondering why we are the match of choice for Mondays - it is not as if we have mid week European commitments, seems slightly strange to me, maybe it evens out over the season but we have been on back to back Mondays

jay_in_cpt

@buffybegood , my comment re Slav was very much just a personal thing, that’s why I said it was a heart not head choice, I cannot see any ex manager returning in reality….

ASLEFshrugged

From Iraola's press conference

Tavernier picked up a hamstring against Ipswich. Subbed after 74 minutes, replaced by Welsh RW/RM David Brooks but Ouattara is another option to fill one of the three attacking midfield places alongside Kluivert and Semenyo

He'll be a big miss, started 14 out of 16 this season, takes corners and free kicks, probably Lewis Cook will get that job

Senesi needed surgery, out for 4 months

Sinisterra "definitely not ready for Monday"

Adams "ready to return" although more likely Christie and Cook as the central midfield pair

Fortuneseeker

chicagohammer, It’s because the Carabao Cup Quarter Finals are on Wednesday & Thursday next week. We were due to be on Sunday but got moved to Monday for the that reason 👍.

IronHerb

chicagohammer said:

Wondering why we are the match of choice for Mondays - it is not as if we have mid week European commitments, seems slightly strange to me, maybe it evens out over the season but we have been on back to back Mondays

Brighton v Palace was the Monday choice but with the proviso that if either qualified for the League Cup QF's they would revert to Sunday 2pm and swap with our game, originally set for the 2pm slot. Both teams qualified.

EXETERHAMMER

Bilic back would be a wonderful Christmas present

buffybegood

Matchday.

COYI ⚒⚒⚒

IronHerb

Famous 2-1 away win. ⚒

nychammer66

IronHerb said:

Famous 2-1 away win. ⚒

Only 2-1? Nah. 4-0. COYI!

buffybegood

No sign of Füllkrug (that I could see) in the training photos:

https://www.whufc.com/news/training-gallery-hammers-get-ready-bournemouth-trip

steve

Hat trick for Fullkrug then

Lukerz

Todibo hasn’t travelled

jay_in_cpt

Lukerz said:

Todibo hasn’t travelled

Injured or falling out 🫢

Lukerz

Fabiański
Coufal - Mavropanos - Kilman - Wan-Bissaka
Souček - Álvarez - Soler
Kudus - Bowen - Paquetá

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

That back 5 makes me nervous