Opposition Preview: AFC Bournemouth | OneFootball

Tomorrow evening, Tottenham Hotspur will take to the field for match day 14 of the 24/25 Premier League season, as they face AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. Kick off is the lesser spotted 20:15 slot, with all the midweek games being shown on Amazon Prime.

Taking a look at how tomorrow night's opponents are looking

The Cherries are currently going through another impressive season relative to expectations, as they sit in 13th place with 18 points from their 13 games. They already have a three point buffer to West Ham United in 14th place, and sit seven points above Everton in 17h place. They are as close to Chelsea in third place as they are to Sean Dyche’s side – points wise.

They are managed by Basque coach Andoni Iraola, who did an impressive job in Spain with Rayo Vallecano, prompting Bournemouth to bring him in and replace Gary O’Neil in the summer of 2023. He has received a lot of praise for the attacking, energetic football that his side like to play.

On Saturday in their 4-2 win away to Wolves, Justin Kluivert became the first ever player to score a hat-trick of penalties in a Premier League game. Brazilian striker Evanilson won all three of the spot kicks, and has scored four goals of his own so far this campaign.

Winger Antoine Semenyo has received several plaudits for his performances this season, and is a clear dangerman. The 24-year old missed the win over Wolves with suspension, so comes into this game all fresh and raring to go. In Bournemouth’s win over Manchester City last month, the Ghanaian international scored, completed 6/7 dribbles, and created a big chance.

Elsewhere, Milos Kerkez at left-back has been a key component to their impressive performances and results this season. In the aforementioned win over City, the Hungarian international provided two assists, and scored in the win over Wolves. His link up with the left-winger, whether it be Kluivert, Semenyo or Marcus Tavernier, is consistently excellent.

One of the South Coast side’s biggest traits is their fluidity. All three of the above players can play in at least two, if not three, of the positions behind the striker, and often change game by game – sometimes in game. With Evanilson providing the foil for them to cause mayhem, they have the components of a top side.

In deeper midfield, the very ball dominant duo of Ryan Christie and Lewis Cook has been mostly preferred by Iraola this season, thought the more combative Tyler Adams has seen more game time in recent weeks.

In central defence, Illia Zabarnyi has impressed over the last 15 months or so , and has been linked with a move to N17 this season. At right-back, Spurs academy player Adam Smith has been with the club since 2014. He is the most likely target for Ange’s side to try and exploit tomorrow.

All in all, a very good side, and tomorrow evening will be an extremely hard game.