Bournemouth vs Sunderland: Two Sides in Freefall Meet on Sunday

Seven goals scored, thirteen conceded, zero wins. That is AFC Bournemouth's last six Premier League matches in three brutal numbers, and Sunday's matchweek 7 home fixture against Sunderland is starting to feel like a must-not-lose rather than a must-win. They've drawn three and lost three across that run, shipped five in one afternoon against Chelsea alone, and followed that with a 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool and a 2-2 draw with Brentford that probably felt like a small mercy. The injury list makes a difficult situation considerably worse — nine players unavailable, including Julián Araujo, Alex Scott and E. Kroupi, all sidelined with hamstring and foot injuries through to late November. That midfield void left by Scott, who had racked up 11 key passes in just five appearances before going down, is going to be felt.

Here's the thing — Bournemouth still have players capable of hurting sides in this transfer window. Marcus Tavernier has 3 goals and 10 key passes from 6 appearances this season and is comfortably the side's most dangerous midfielder. Evanilson adds a goal and 3 assists from 6 outings, and between them they carry most of what passes for creative threat in this squad right now. Djordje Petrovic has made 12 saves in goal, which tells you plenty about how much pressure the Cherries' backline has been under. Justin Kluivert's availability is unclear given the injury concerns flagged around the squad, so Bournemouth may be leaning heavily on a fairly thin attacking core.

Sunderland aren't exactly rolling into this one brimming with confidence either. One win and one draw from their last six, with 6 scored and 12 conceded — including a 5-3 hammering at Manchester City and back-to-back 0-2 home defeats to Brighton and Arsenal. Let's be honest, those are not the kind of results that suggest a side in the middle of finding themselves. The bigger blow is Brian Brobbey missing through a hamstring injury — he had 3 goals in 5 appearances and was clearly central to whatever attacking plan they had. Wilson Isidor steps into that striker role but has looked peripheral in limited minutes, while Enzo Le Fée remains the side's most influential presence with 1 goal, 1 assist and 11 key passes from 6 games. Granit Xhaka has accumulated a remarkable 14 key passes from midfield, a number that puts him among the busiest creative forces in this Premier League matchweek, and Nilson Angulo chips in with a goal and an assist from the left. The concern is whether any of that translates into goals without Brobbey leading the line.

Two sides haemorrhaging goals in the premier league's bottom half, one match, and genuinely very little between them on current form. Bournemouth at home have the marginal advantage with Tavernier in form, and Sunderland without their top scorer is a real problem. Bournemouth to edge a low-scoring, scrappy Sunday afternoon that neither set of fans will particularly enjoy watching.

Clubs in this story

Sunderland AFC Bournemouth Manchester City Brentford Liverpool Arsenal Chelsea