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Bournemouth logo
Championship
Aug 16, 2014 at 3pm UK
 
Brentford logo

1-0

Stanislas (72')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Preview: Bournemouth vs. Brentford

Sports Mole looks ahead to Saturday's Championship clash between early league leaders Bournemouth and newly-promoted Brentford at the Goldsands Stadium.

Things could not have gone much better for Bournemouth on the opening day of the season last weekend.

The Cherries emphatically answered questions over whether they could match last season's exploits with a thumping 4-0 victory over Huddersfield Town, a result that prompted their opponents to part company with manager Mark Robins after just one match.

Eddie Howe will be the first to say that three points mean very little at this stage of the season, but the manner in which they dispatched of their opponents has raised optimism for a playoff push again this year.

Newly-promoted Brentford stand in their way on Saturday and, having come up from League One themselves the season before last, Bournemouth will be wary of underestimating the Bees.

Confidence will be flowing through the home side, however, and they maintained their impressive start to the campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Exeter in the League Cup on Tuesday.

As league leaders going into the second round of matches, Bournemouth may find themselves under an unfamiliar sort of pressure to perform, but it is one that they are likely to relish.

Howe dubbed the performance away to Huddersfield "perfect", and he will be hoping for a similar display in the club's first competitive home game of the campaign.

The Cherries have no new injury worries and could name an unchanged lineup, with Callum Wilson likely to lead the line following his two goals on debut last weekend.

While Bournemouth saw out a fairly routine midweek cup win, there was nothing routine about Brentford's exploits on Tuesday.

The Bees were involved in one of the most remarkable matches in recent memory as they played out a staggering 6-6 draw against Dagenham & Redbridge.

Mark Warburton's side were 2-0 ahead within 10 minutes but went on to surrender a lead three times over the 120 minutes before edging the 12-goal thriller on penalties.

Fatigue could well play a part after such a energy-sapping encounter, but the one saving grace for Warburton will be that it came so early on in the season.

The visitors got off to a solid start in the league campaign, scoring an 85th-minute equaliser to share the spoils with Charlton Athletic at Griffin Park.

Another point this Saturday would represent a good return against a team in the sort of form Bournemouth find themselves in, and Tommy Smith could have earned himself a start having netted the equaliser last weekend.

However, new signing Nick Proschwitz is also in contention, having found the back of the net against Dagenham in midweek.

Recent form

Bournemouth: LWWWWW

Brentford: WWLWDW

Possible starting lineups

Bournemouth: Camp; Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels; Ritchie, O'Kane, Arter, Pugh; Wilson, Kermorgant

Brentford: Button; McCormack, Tarkowski, Craig, Bidwell; Odubajo, Judge, Douglas, Pritchard, Dallas; Proschwitz

Sports Mole says: 3-1


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Barney Corkhill
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James Tarkowski of Brentford and Igor Vetokele of Charlton Athletic on August 9, 2014
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