Preview:Bournemouth vs Wolverhampton Wanderers - prediction, team news, lineups

Two teams carved open at will during the opening Premier League gameweek renew hostilities on Saturday afternoon, as Bournemouth host Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening home fixture of the 2025-26 season.

Andoni Iraola's troops fought a brave fight against champions Liverpool only to succumb to a 4-2 defeat, while the Old Gold also conceded a quartet of strikes to title hopefuls Manchester City but had nothing in the way of a response.

Match preview

After Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo reported racist abuse from a member of the crowd to referee Anthony Taylor, the on-field action between the Cherries and Liverpool at Anfield took a secondary role; a 47-year-old man has since been arrested and released on bail in connection with the incident.

In spite of allegedly going through what no player - or indeed human - should ever have to go through, the electrifying Ghanaian led the Bournemouth comeback charge against a defensively suspect Liverpool with a brilliant second-half brace, but his efforts to claw the Cherries back from two goals down were ultimately futile.

Nevertheless, not until the 88th minute did the reigning champions managed to break Bournemouth's resistance again, and head coach Andoni Iraola could reflect on plenty of pleasing aspects from his side's display, none more so than their devastating abilities on the counter-attack.

However, a return to the Vitality Stadium is not exactly a return to home comforts for the hosts; they won just two of their last eight Premier League matches on familiar territory in the 2024-25 season, losing an additional five and playing out one draw with Manchester United.

The Cherries' early-season exploits offer cause for optimism, though, as Bournemouth have managed to avoid defeat in their first home game of each of the last five top-flight campaigns, having previously gone down in three on the spin from 2015 to 2017.

While Bournemouth threatened the most almighty turnaround from 2-0 down at the home of the champions, Wolves offered nothing of the sort from 2-0 down at home to the dethroned champions, who roared to the most emphatic victory of the opening weekend.

Erling Haaland's customary matchweek one goals, coupled with debut strikes from Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, propelled Man City to a 4-0 demolition job of Vitor Pereira's men, who are already propping up the Premier League standings after one game.

As unsightly as the scoreline was, Wolves' display cannot be categorised as disastrous; the Old Gold asked a couple of questions of James Trafford in the City goal, but they were simply blown away by a clinical and cohesive attacking unit at Molineux.

However, last Saturday's slaughter did prolong a worrying trend for Wolves, who only have one win to show from their last 22 Premier League games in August and boast just a 14% overall win rate for the month, the worst of any Premier League team to play at least 30 August matches.

Away days to the South Coast tend to be joyful occasions for Wolves, though, as they have remarkably gone unbeaten in each of their previous five Premier League matches against Bournemouth at the Vitality; they have never faced another team away from home on more occasions in the competition without suffering defeat.

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:

Team News

Four different Liverpool attackers found the back of the net against Bournemouth, but the Cherries have now poached another offensive talent from the Anfield ranks in Ben Doak, who is eligible to make his debut this weekend after arriving in a £25m deal.

The hosts also announced the arrival of Morocco international Amine Adli from Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, and a Bournemouth baptism is not out of the question for him either.

Iraola is also hopeful of having Ryan Christie back from a groin problem, but Justin Kluivert (calf) is more of a doubt, while Enes Unal (knee) and Lewis Cook (knee) are both guaranteed to miss out.

Doak could be fighting a losing battle to displace David Brooks following the Welshman's exceptional assist for Semenyo's first at Anfield, and the latter could now become just the second African player to score a brace in three straight Premier League appearances after Papiss Cisse for Newcastle United in 2012.

Also reinforcing their wide ranks, Wolves recently confirmed the capture of the fastest player in the 2024-25 Serie A season, signing 23-year-old speed demon Jackson Tchatchoua from Hellas Verona.

The right-back - who clocked a top speed of 36.3kmph in the Italian top flight last term - should immediately threaten Ki-Jana Hoever's place, and long-term ACL victim Leon Chiwone is Pereira's only absentee for the weekend.

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Semenyo, Tavernier, Brooks; Evanilson

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Sa; Doherty, Toti, Agbadou; Tchatchoua, Gomes, Andre, Wolfe; Lopez, Munetsi; Larsen

We say: Bournemouth 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

The Vitality Stadium is historically a happy hunting ground for Wolves, but the Old Gold's sensational South Coast streak appears destined to come to an end this weekend.

Facing a Semenyo-inspired Bournemouth with two new attacking talents in tow, Pereira's defence may not hold out for long, and we have faith in Iraola's men to get up and running at the second attempt.

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