Match Preview: Bournemouth v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford travel to Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday evening (5.30pm kick-off GMT) looking to continue their fine recent form on the road, live on Sky Sports.

The west Londoners have won their last four away fixtures ahead of this weekend's trip to the south coast.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before the Bees' latest test.

Pre-match Analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Brentford must be wary of a Bournemouth side that attack with speed and aggression

Bournemouth have earned plaudits for their enterprising football this season and rightly so with Andoni Iraola's side firmly in the hunt for European football.

But the Cherries have often come unstuck when facing the Bees in recent fixtures.

Brentford have won three and drawn two of the previous five meetings between the pair in the Premier League and another win would make it three on the bounce.

While Saturday's hosts have been putting in good performances, it hasn't always translated into results. The Cherries have won just one of their last five games in all competitions in normal time and that came against struggling Southampton.

Still, Bournemouth are a dangerous attacking outfit as anyone who has watched them this season will know.

The Cherries rank fourth in the Premier League for shots on target this season with 154 in total, and considering that Brentford generally allow shots against them (usually of fairly low xG quality), Mark Flekken may need to be alert.

Justin Kluivert in particular has had an excellent season so far, scoring 12 and assisting six. The Dutch forward also ranks fifth in the league for goals per 90 minutes (0.58).

A lot of the Cherries' efforts come from the fast, dynamic style of play that Iraola prefers. Bournemouth have a pass success rate of just 76 per cent (the fourth-lowest in the league) and have completed the third-lowest number of short passes.

Conversely, the wide men have put in 600 crosses – a stat only Fulham better. The impressive Milos Kerkez is particularly a threat in this area with 17 crosses into the penalty area this season (ranking him fourth overall).

Of course, you don't need to pass the ball for minutes on end to score if you simply win the ball high up the pitch. Bournemouth do this with speed and aggression.

Often, the Cherries win the ball in the middle third (243 tackles won there, the most of any team) before springing into life. No other team has had more defensive actions leading to a shot (20) this season, although only two of those led to a goal.

Thomas Frank will know his team have to concentrate and avoid any loose mistakes. This season, Bournemouth's opponents have made 40 errors that have led to a shot for the Cherries – no other team has managed to capitalise on mistakes in such a way. The south coast side also top the charts for ball recoveries (1,402 in total).

Winning the ball back aggressively naturally leads to conceding fouls which could be an area that Brentford can exploit.

Bournemouth have committed the most fouls in the Premier League (386, while the west Londoners are the second-lowest on 220) and have picked up 71 yellow cards in the process.

That can set up some very handy set-piece opportunities for the Bees who, as we know, are adept in these scenarios.

That's especially true for the big defenders, especially with Bournemouth losing 46.6 per cent of their aerial duels – the second-lowest success rate in the league. Indeed, only Wolves have allowed more dead-ball passes lead to shots against.

Perhaps Brentford have the kryptonite for Iraola's style. Bournemouth have the fourth-lowest percentage of dribblers tackled, which will no doubt have Bryan Mbeumo and co eager to test them.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Europe-chasing Cherries taking it one game at a time

Bournemouth were sat 12th in the Premier League at the start of the November international break, having lost 3-2 to Brentford at the Gtech.

It came as a little bit of a surprise, given Andoni Iraola's side had beaten both Arsenal and Man City in their previous two home fixtures, and taken the lead twice in the game - but, if anything, it played a part in making what was to come all the sweeter.

The Cherries returned to action with a 2-1 defeat at Brighton, then went on a sparkling run of form that started with four wins and three draws up to the end of the year.

Among the highlights was Justin Kluivert scoring the first hat-trick of penalties in Premier League history during the 4-2 win at Wolves then, three days before Christmas - and for the second season in succession - beating Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford.

Iraola was modest about his side's excellent result. "It was a solid performance. Not amazing, but solid," he said. "I'm happy we kept playing the same way, kept pushing until the end."

On New Year's Day, Bournemouth were seventh in the table; one point behind Man City, two behind Newcastle and just five behind Chelsea in fourth place. Even for a team continuously improving, it was nosebleed territory.

So then, typically, a spanner had to be thrown into the works. Evanilson fractured a metatarsal during the 1-0 win over Everton on 4 January and had surgery to repair it and, less than a week later, fellow striker Enes Ünal suffered an ACL injury during a training session. Clearly these two injuries disrupted plans, but you wouldn't have known it.

With Dango Ouattara shifted into the vacant central striking role, the Cherries came from behind to hold Chelsea to a 2-2 draw three days after thumping West Brom 5-1 in the FA Cup third round, then followed that up with a 4-1 win at Newcastle and a 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest back at the Vitality. Kluivert hit another treble against the Magpies, before Ouattara did the same against Forest.

"I think it's a great result. A very good performance. The best thing is to enjoy it. Enjoy today," said Iraola after the win over the latter.

"You can look at the standings but that will not give us anything. We have to take it game by game. You can enjoy every week. That's how we should focus."

And it's easy to see why the Spaniard employs this rigid approach; in the five games that have followed, they have taken only four points. Hopes of European qualification for the first time in club history are still very much alive, but it's fair to say they have taken a bit of a hit as a result.

Whatever happens, it is certain to be another record-breaking season for the Cherries.

Two more wins will take them to 14 this term (current record 13), they need only 10 more goals for 57 (current record 56) and, given their current points-per-game figure of 1.57, they are on course to finish with 60 points, which would obliterate the record haul of 48 they set just last season.

Not to mention the fact the Opta supercomputer is predicting them to finish eighth, which would better their ninth-placed finish in the 2016/17 campaign - and they are in the FA Cup quarter-final for only the third time ever.

It goes without saying that it’s an exciting time to be a Bournemouth fan.

In the Dugout

Andoni Iraola

A right-back by trade during his playing days, Andoni Iraola came through the ranks at Athletic Bilbao and made his debut during the 2003/04 La Liga season, following two years in the Segunda Division with Bilbao’s B team and a year with Basconia – effectively the club’s C team – before that.

Over the 10 seasons that followed his debut year, Iraola astonishingly missed only 26 league games, during which time he was part of the squad that finished as runners-up in the Copa del Rey twice, once in the Europa League and once in the Spanish Super Cup. Between 2008 and 2011, he earned seven senior caps for Spain.

He featured considerably less during 2014/15 - his final season at San Mamés – but captained Lehoiak in his final game for the club, in a third Copa del Rey final defeat, this time against Barcelona.

Iraola then signed for New York City of the MLS, where he spent 17 months, before retiring in November 2016.

Just over 18 months later, he was handed his first managerial role with AEK Larnaca, but lasted only until January 2019 after winning 12 of his 29 matches in charge of the Cypriot First Division club.

That summer, he joined CD Mirandés where, in his only season at the club, he masterminded a run to the semi-final of the Copa del Rey for only the second time in the club’s history.

In August 2020, he took over at Rayo Vallecano, whom he led to promotion from the Segunda Division in his first season in charge.

Los Franjirrojos finished 12th in their first season back in La Liga and 11th last term, which led to an approach from Leeds United last February, which was rebuffed by the club’s board.

However, he left at the end of the campaign when his contract expired and joined Bournemouth in June 2023. The 42-year-old signed a new contract last May, which will keep him at Vitality Stadium until the summer of 2026.

The Gameplan

With Bournemouth Echo's Alex Smith

Alex Smith, sports journalist at the Bournemouth Echo, explains how the Cherries are likely to line up on Saturday evening.

"Iraola tends to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation," said Smith.

"It is quite a fluid system as well, with players dropping in and dropping out of position and three forwards in behind the lone striker, so a player’s starting position might not be the position they play for the whole game.

"For example, Antoine Semenyo; he has played out on the left, played out on the right, sometimes drops in through the middle. It can be tweaked during the games.

"It is the same with [Justin] Kluivert and players like that. It is a very high-pressing style; they will press from the front, they will try and win the ball high up the pitch and try and create goals from that, hitting the opposition when they are perhaps not expecting it or are not as organised as they should be.

"It is high energy, they always try and get a lot of shots off and they hope that they can score a decent proportion of those chances. I am sure it will not be a dull game."

Last starting XI v Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Kepa; Cook, Hill, Huijsen, Kerkez; Christie, Adams; Tavernier, Kluivert, Semenyo; Evanilson

Read our full interview with Alex Smith here

Match Officials

Pawson to officiate Bees for first time this term

Referee: Craig Pawson

Assistants: Timothy Wood and Wade Smith

Fourth official: David Webb

VAR: Paul Tierney

Craig Pawson will take charge of his first Brentford game of the season at Vitality Stadium.

The Yorkshire-born 46-year-old has refereed 16 Premier League fixtures this term, including two involving Bournemouth, but hasn't been the man in the middle for a Bees match since the west Londoners' 1-0 loss at Newcastle in September 2023.

Pawson's most recent outing was for Manchester City's 3-1 FA Cup win over Plymouth Argyle, with his previous top-flight game being West Ham's 1-0 away victory against Arsenal.

Last Meeting

Brentford 3 Bournemouth 2 (Premier League, 9 November 2024)

Yoane Wissa scored a brace as the Bees twice came from behind to defeat Bournemouth 3-2 at Gtech Community Stadium.

Evanilson pounded on a loose backpass and rounded Mark Flekken before passing into an empty net to open the scoring but Wissa headed the Bees level.

Justin Kluivert restored the Cherries' lead early in the second half following a well-worked corner routine, with Mikkel Damsgaard levelling almost instantly, squeezing in at the near post from a tight angle.

Wissa lifted the ball over Kepa following a superb through ball from Vitaly Janelt to secure the three points.