Bournemouth went ahead when Vitaly Janelt unwittingly diverted a Milos Kirkez cross into his own net but their opener was cancelled out by a towering header from Yoane Wissa from Bryan Mbeumo’s corner kick. It’s been an end-to-end game, with plenty of ebb and flow. More please …Brentford penalty area. His effort sails over the bar. And that’s yer lot for the first half …Brentford have probably had the better of the chances but are lacking a little bit of cutting-edge up front. We’ll have a minute of added time before the break.Brentford box. With his back to goal, the Brazilian controls the ball, turns and sends a low diagonal effort wide of the far upright.Bournemouth goal. Incredibly, there’s nobody in a pink shirt on hand to tap it home.Bournemouth defender after connecting with a Kristoffer Ajer pullback from the byline. It was Damsgaard who played Ajer in behind with a beautifully weighted pass.Bournemouth striker stretches every sinew in his attempt to steer the ball underneath the crossbar but Flekken saves.Brentford corner and the ball breaks to Schade, who fires narrowly wide with his shot on the turn. That was a decent chance!Brentford striker’s task easier.Brentford bench to celebrate with Keith Andrews, the set-piece coach.
Brentford score from the corner …Bournemouth advance. A Justin Kluivert effort from distance deflects off Janelt but on this occasion, Flekken is on hand to prevent the ball trundling past him.Brentford are on the ball and Wissa latches on to a pass in behind from Norgaard only to slice his shot from a narrow angle horribly wide.Bournemouth goal.Bournemouth shirt.Bournemouth clear their lines.Bournemouth with the ball at his feet but eschews an excellent shooting opportunity in favour of laying the ball off to Kevin Schade, who almost certainly wasn’t expecting the pass and miscontrols. Another good Brentford chance goes to waste.Bournemouth penalty area is a poor one. A good chance goes a begging.Brentford penalty area and unleashes a shot. Nathan Collins sticks out a leg to put the ball out for a corner, from which nothing comes.Bournemouth corner, their first of the game. Kluivert’s inswinger is punched clear bvy Mark Flekken.Brentford goal.Bournemouth get forward again and Evanilson has a shot from just outside the penalty area blocked moments after Antoine Semenyo had gone to ground just beside him. Bournemouth’s fans appeal for a penalty but tellingly, the home players don’t.Bournemouth as Milos Kerkez shoots through traffic after being teed up by a Semenyo pull-back. He doesn’t get enough welly on his shot to trouble Mark Flekken unduly.Bournemouth get the ball rolling on a sunny evening at the Vitality Stadium. They wear their usual home kit, while the players of Brentford are a vision in pink shirts, maroon shorts and pink socks.Bournemouth, Iraola has become accustomed to being asked about his future. “I’m very happy,” he said yesterday. “I’ve said it a lot of times.”
Bournemouth during his pre-match press conference. “Bournemouth have been really, really impressive,” the Brentford manager said.
“They are the best team in the league on these half transitions. They pick up the second ball and drive forward with their front four. They are having an excellent season. Both teams are having an excellent season. I like the way they press, they press extremely aggressively. We need to do well against that pressure. They’re very good at playing direct and in behind, which is what they constantly do, and do very well.”
Frank also added that, like the rest of us no doubt, he is looking forward to this evening’s battle between his right winger Bryan Mbeumo and Bournemouth’s highly regarded left-back Milos Kerkez.
Bournemouth today will take them to sixth place in the table, a point behind City.Bournemouth fans who have tailored the lyrics of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ in homage to their Ukrainian centre-back, Illia Zabarnyi is expected to start today after serving a three-match ban. Out injured since November, Julian Araujo and Marcos Senesi are both back in training but will not feature today. Adam Smith and Enes Unal remain sidelined.
During his pre-match press conference, Thomas Frank said there is “a good chance” Brentford defender Sepp van den Berg will be back today after three matches out with a knee injury. Michael Kayode, Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry are all back in full training but are unlikely to be fit enough to feature, while Josh Dasilva, Igor Thiago, Fabio Carvalho and Gustavo Nunes are all out.
Premier League games following defeats at the hands of Wolves and Brighton followed by last Sunday’s draw against Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth welcome a Brentford side seeking a club record fifth consecutive top flight win on the road to the Vitality Stadium.
Despite their poor recent results, Bournemouth haven’t actually played that badly and actually monstered Spurs last Sunday, only to gift them a point courtesy of an act of unnecessary largesse on the part of their goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Qualification for next season’s Champions League remains a very real possibility for Andoni Iraola’s side but this evening they host a Brentford side with European aspirations of their own. Kick-off at the Vitality Stadium is at 5.30pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
Source: theguardian.com
