Bournemouth v Middlesbrough: Back Cherries to strike twice

Bournemouth v Middlesbrough
Friday April 15, 15:00
Sky Sports

Bournemouth grind it out at Bramall Lane

Bournemouth boss Scott Parker asked his Cherries side to go “back to basics” in a bid to stay defensively resolute at Sheffield United last weekend. The high-flyers recorded a 0-0 draw at Bramall Lane and survived some key moments. Goalkeeper Mark Travers was the team’s standout performer with Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips enduring a tough afternoon.

Sheff Utd were the better side and came close to scoring when Bournemouth captain Lloyd Kelly’s clearance hit his own bar before Travers brilliantly foiled Morgan Gibbs-White. Travers again needed to be at his best, rushing out to deny Gibbs-White as he raced clean through with 20 minutes to go, whilst the Cherries also survived a late penalty claim.

Parker said: “It was a good point in the end. I thought it was a well-fought point, a very good game. Overall, I thought we were better for the majority of the game. I think it’s fair to say that Sheffield United had the better chances. I asked the team – let’s go back to basics. We’ve done that, got a clean sheet. We went back to that, gave ourselves a foundation.”

Wilder aims to rally Middlesbrough troops

Middlesbrough have suffered successive Championship defeats for the first time since Chris Wilder arrived at The Riverside, and the Teessiders chief has called on his troops to bounce back as Boro bid to put themselves in the play-off picture again. The Reds fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to lowly Hull last time out with goalkeeper Joe Lumley‘s error proving costly.

Wilder said: “I’ve protected Joe, but that’s a mistake. He has to save it, there’s no hiding place out there. As well, right the way through the team after 25 minutes, we never built momentum and we never played in the shape we play. It was quite a difficult performance to understand where it came from – I’m scratching my head as we prepared really well.”

Middlesbrough are eighth coming into Good Friday’s card and have a game in-hand over the two teams immediately above them, meaning the race for the top-six remains on.

Wilder added: “There is still an awful lot to play for – we will take this on the chin and move on. We’ve six games to go and nothing at all is done and dusted just yet. We’ll go again.”

Bournemouth and Middlesbrough have crossed swords nine times in league football since 1992 with all nine encounters arriving in the past 10 years. The Cherries have posted a positive W3-D4-L2 in those recent head-to-head meetings, a sample that includes a W3-D1-L0 return at Dean Court with Boro failing to score in each of those four trips to Dorset.

Bournemouth 2.0811/10 enjoyed a club-record unbeaten start to the season of 15 games. They stuttered thereafter before finding a degree of consistency again from Christmas. Parker’s posse have pocketed W9-D3-L4 in their last 16 and are the division’s second-best performing home side (W11-D5-L3).

Middlesbrough 4.003/1 were 14th when Chris Wilder took charge in November but have enjoyed an eye-catching revival, collecting the sixth-most Championship points under the new regime (W12-D4-L7). However, the majority of Boro’s best work has been done on Teesside with the Reds picking up a W4-D3-L4 record when taking to the road under Wilder.

Bournemouth’s home Championship battles at Dean Court have largely tended to fun affairs. The Cherries have seen an average of 3.01 goals per-game with 14/19 (74%) matches producing profitable Over 2.5 Goals 1.9520/21 selections. Scott Parker’s posse have scored multiple goals themselves in 14 home outings with a repeat available at 2.1011/10.

Middlesbrough matches under Wilder have mainly been open and entertaining, particularly away from The Riverside. Boro’s 11 away days under their current boss have averaged 2.73 goals with seven hitting the standard Over 2.5 Goals mark, whilst the visitors have managed to silence only two of their top-half rivals in games as guests.

Backing Bournemouth to score Over 1.5 Goals is the preferred play at a really nice price of 2.1011/10.