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28 min: Anthony attempts to comply, but his attempt to curl a shot into the top right swerves away from goal rather than towards it.
26 min: Solanke shoots viciously from 25 yards but the shot is blocked easily enough. Goodness knows this game could do with a goal.
25 min: Trippier and Isak probe down the right and earn Newcastle another corner. Trippier fires it in. Senesi heads it clear. The ball’s sailing out for a throw. Trippier, eager to get on with things, catches the ball before it goes out of play. As he takes the throw, the whistle goes for handball. A curio.
23 min: It’s all a bit slow and scrappy now, which presumably will suit Bournemouth more than Newcastle. It certainly doesn’t suit the neutral onlooker.
21 min: A corner on the right leads to another on the left. Trippier and Saint-Maximin play it short, and what a hash they make of it.
20 min: Schar creams a pass down the inside-right channel to realise Isak, who enters the box but hesitates before shooting, allowing Zemura to slide in to block at the expense of a corner.
19 min: Traore turns into space down the right and rolls a lovely pass along the flank for Ouattara to chase. Solanke is free in the middle, waiting for the cross that would surely result in his at least working Pope. But Ouattara can only feather the ball with his boot, almost a complete whiff, and Newcastle area able to clear their lines. That had potential.
17 min: Newcastle haven’t really got going yet. Not the fast start Eddie Howe was talking about.
15 min: Ouattara tries to release Solanke down the middle with a slide-rule pass, but the ball deflects off Botman and away from his team-mate. Bournemouth are suddenly playing with a confidence that belies their position in the table.
13 min: Zemura makes a proper nuisance of himself down the left. He bursts into space but his cross is half-cleared. Bournemouth come again, Anthony crossing from the same flank. Solanke eyebrows the ball towards the bottom right, forcing Pope to tip around the post. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but there was some nice football from Bournemouth during that little burst of activity.
11 min: Newcastle win the first corner of the game down the right. Schar meets it, rising highest eight yards out, but sends a weak header off target. A decent chance, that.
9 min: Solanke and Traore combine well down the inside-left channel but can’t quite open Newcastle up. Then Zemura nips in front of Almiron to take the ball away, only for the referee to absurdly award Newcastle a pressure-releasing free kick, presumably impressed by Almiron’s triple salchow as he fell.
7 min: Lerma barges Willock out of play on the Newcastle left, just in front of the dugouts. A sore one for Willock, who lands awkwardly on the artificial turf beside the pitch. Newcastle’s bench rises to discuss the matter with the referee, and are quickly told to pipe down. It’s not even a foul. Throw to Bournemouth.
5 min: Lerma looks long down the middle for Solanke, but there’s way too much juice on the pass and it flies through to Pope.
4 min: Bournemouth attempt to play out from the back. Newcastle turn up the press. Almiron eventually deflects Senesi’s panicked clearance out for a goal kick. A passage of play that won’t settle any home nerves.
2 min: Isak chases a long pass down the left only to be turned away by Smith. Other than that, it’s been a fairly nondescript start.
The players take a knee to show solidarity in the fight against racism … then Newcastle get the ball rolling. A fine post-afternoon-in-the-pub atmosphere at Dean Court.
The teams are out! Bournemouth wear their AC Milan inspired red and black stripes, while Newcastle sport third-choice white shirts with green trim. A warm reception for Eddie Howe as he returns to his old stomping ground, much as you’d expect. A game with big implications at both ends of the table coming right up!
Eddie Howe, who reports that Callum Wilson has a “very minor hamstring complaint”, talks to Sky. “I am excited to see [Isak] today … Anthony Gordon did really well in his appearance last week … but I’ve decided to stick faith with the players … the surroundings are familiar but we are here to do a job, we’re desperate to win, and we’re focused on that … Bournemouth statistically start well, so the first 15, 20 minutes is crucial for us.”
Gary O’Neil speaks to Sky Sports. “Fine margins … we need to be better in the final third … when we’re defending our goal … very fine margins … we’ve put in a lot of work this week and hope to see an improvement … Newcastle are a tough team to hurt, they’re a good side, it’ll be a tough game … we have things in place we hope we can cause them problems.”
Bournemouth make two changes to the XI selected to start the 1-0 loss at Brighton. Dominic Solanke returns from injury and replaces Antoine Semenyo, while Jack Stephens comes in for Chris Mepham. Semenyo and Mepham drop to the bench.
Newcastle make just one change to their starting XI in the wake of the 1-1 draw against West Ham. Alexander Isak replaces Callum Wilson, who misses out altogether. Anthony Gordon is on the bench once more.
The teams
Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Stephens, Senesi, Zemura, Outtara, Billing, Lerma, Anthony, Traore, Solanke.
Subs: Travers, Fredericks, Mepham, Christie, Rothwell, Tavernier, Vina, Moore, Semenyo.
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Isak.
Subs: Dubravka, Dummett, Gordon, Ritchie, Lewis, Fraser, Murphy, Anderson, Miley.
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the Premier League fixture between The Club Eddie Howe Made Famous and The Club Eddie Howe Is About To Make Even More Famous Than It Already Is. The former desperately need the three points in their battle against relegation; the latter wouldn’t mind them as they make their ahead-of-schedule bid for a spot in the Champions League. Neither side is flying – Bournemouth have won just one of their last 12 Premier League matches, while Newcastle have drawn four of their last five in the division – but the Toon will fancy their chances in a fixture they won 4-1 the last time it was played. Kick off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!
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