Premier League: When David Welcomes Goliath to Town

Bournemouth vs Manchester City

As far as resources are concerned, they couldn’t be much further apart.

One has invested more than £1 billion into the club over the past decade, the other rescued from the brink of oblivion.

As Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi was forever changing not just the fortunes of Manchester City but the landscape of English football, chairman Jeff Moyston was saving Bournemouth’s mere existence.

So, as these sides prepare for a Premier League clash, it’s briefly worth reminding ourselves how they got here.

Talking Points

Back then, even after Moyston’s intervention, the Cherries were still expected to slip out of the Football League having started the 2008-9 League Two season on minus 17 points because of their fiscal failings.

While Mostyn did his bit off the pitch, on the field it was young manager Eddie Howe who provided the inspiration as he assembled a squad capable of rising through the ranks of English football.

Bournemouth set their eyes to stop Raheem Sterling and Manchester City in their Premier League clash — Eddie Howe is determined to improve the Cherries’ record

Penny for penny, their upward trajectory in English football is every bit as impressive, if not more so, than the opponents they welcome to the south coast this weekend.

And while this may be a one-sided affair, we only need to look back to the corresponding fixture last season to remember just how difficult David can make it for Goliath.

Indeed, City coach Pep Guardiola hailed their 1-0 win in this fixture in March as one of his team’s best-ever performances.

They certainly dominated from start to finish, with Bournemouth reduced to trying to keep it tight while having less than 20 per cent of the play and not a single shot on goal in the whole match.

Yet it took a Riyad Mahrez strike 10 minutes after half-time to settle the contest and propel City to a vital win in the title race.

That was one of 14 straight league wins they concluded the season with to retain English football’s top prize.

This SBOBET writer thinks they are favourites to win it again this term and the Premier League betting odds reflect that.

However, now they need to start another winning run after their record of 15 successive league triumphs was brought to an end last weekend – albeit in a match they dominated from start to finish.

On the same day, Bournemouth and Howe were creating some Premier League highlights of their own.

Then two goals in the opening 12 minutes, including one after just 46 seconds, fired them to a 2-1 win at Aston Villa who never recovered from the lightning start of Howe’s charges.

They have started the season with a length injury list but four points from their first two matches is the same as City and represents a decent start to the new campaign.

In the aforementioned match last season, England defender Kyle Walker, for example, completed more passes than the entire Bournemouth team.

Howe said City were so peerless that they did not give his side a sniff and also took plenty of flak for successfully making life difficult. Yet he must be tempted to do so again and bear the brunt of any criticism that will inevitably come.

When the gulf is so wide, why play into you opponents’ hands?

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Serie A

History

The Cherries have only avoided defeat in one of their seven home games against City, a goalless draw in the third tier 20 years ago.

City are unbeaten in all 14 meetings with Bournemouth and have won their eight Premier League fixtures by an aggregate score of 25-3.

As well as the 1-0 win last season, City triumphed 3-1 at home last December, courtesy of goals from Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan – their eighth straight win over Bournemouth.

The sides had not met at all until December 1987 when City recorded a 2-0 success at the former Dean Court ground before a crowd of under 10,000 spectators.