Bournemouth are 12th in the Premier League table going into the final stretch before the World Cup. What have you made of what you’ve seen so far?

The past few months covering AFC Bournemouth has been a strange experience! Since the high of a brilliant night clinching promotion in May, the manager [Scott Parker] has been sacked, talk of a takeover of the club has emerged and the team have suffered a 9-0 defeat, yet it has actually been a pretty decent start to the campaign.

Seven games in, the only defeats, albeit heavy ones, have come against three of the top sides in the division in Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. They have picked up eight points from the four other fixtures, which is a really good return, particularly for a newly promoted club.

It all still feels very much like a transitional, holding period now. But Gary O’Neil is unbeaten since replacing Parker and is keeping things ticking along nicely, while the club consider the next steps.

As you referenced, Scott Parker left his role as head coach after just four games this season, the last of which was a 9-0 away loss at Liverpool, but it seems that disagreements with the board were the main factor in his sacking. Do you feel his frustrations at the transfer activity were justified?

I think every manager, especially after just getting promoted, would want to make significant additions over the summer to bolster the squad.In the case of the Cherries, I think it was fair to say the club certainly needed to strengthen more and the current squad now may still prove a little light in the long run to achieve what they want to this season.

But it was more the way Parker went about things that led to his downfall. Everything Bournemouth have achieved in recent history has come through the underdog, backs-against-the-wall and all in it together mentality. So, when Parker began publicly going against some of those principles, by effectively stating the club had no chance of staying up with the squad as it was, he backed himself into a corner.

We will never know exactly what talks went on behind the scenes and how much he knew of the proposed takeover, which could well explain the lack of spending through the summer. Either way, it appears there was a breakdown in communication/a disagreement over the best way forward for the club and, while it all came to a head fairly quickly, it was becoming unsustainable for Parker to remain in charge.

How impressed are you with the way Gary O’Neil has steadied the ship in the meantime?

How O’Neil has taken to things has been very impressive, for a few reasons.

Firstly, he had never managed a game before at any level for a professional club, never mind one in the Premier League.

Secondly, his first game in charge came just days after being thrust into the role, which was also on the back the club’s record heaviest defeat, the 9-0 at Anfield.

Add to that the fact Parker had just told the media he would not be surprised if this squad lost by the same margin a few more times this season, for O’Neil to galvanise the group enough to grind out a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Wolves deserves plenty of credit.He then lifted them from looking dead and buried to win at Nottingham Forest, before picking up a good point at Newcastle before the international break.

Which player should Brentford fans keep an eye on?

Having played in a deeper role earlier in the season, Philip Billing has been unleashed further forwards in recent weeks. He has rewarded O’Neil for allowing him to play in his preferred position, scoring against both Forest and Newcastle.

Those goals and performances saw him shortlisted for the Premier League Player of the Month award, which highlights his recent vein of form. Aside from Billing, Marcus Tavernier is also showing promising early signs having made the step up from the Championship this summer.

How is O’Neil likely to set up his side?

Over the summer, Parker tried to completely change the way the team had played in achieving promotion, moving to a more defence-first, back-three/five approach. He did not really have the players available to make it work straightaway, as was shown by the results in pre-season.

Since O’Neil has come in, it has been much more like the set-up from last season, in the most part - a 4-3-3, aided by the return to fitness of Dominic Solanke up front.I’d expect the line-up to be very similar, if not the same, as the one that faced Newcastle.

This is the first meeting between the teams since that dramatic Play-Off semi-final second leg in West London last year. What’s your score prediction for this one?

I was interested to see how Brentford would get on this season and their performances so far have shown they are very much building on last year.

Thomas Frank’s Bees have shown they have the quality to cause most sides problems in this league and I think it’ll be a really entertaining game on Saturday.

Fine margins have decided O’Neil’s games in charge so far and he can’t go unbeaten forever, so I think Brentford might pinch a 2-1 win.