Tomorrow will be our 113th meeting with AFC Bournemouth but the first ever to take place in the top tier of English football.

The Cherries have recovered from a nightmare run in August to move into midtable, just a point behind us, going into the game at the Vitality Stadium.

The opposition

Bournemouth’s return to the Premier League following a two-year absence has been up and down to say the least.

They opened their campaign with a fine 2-0 home win against Aston Villa, followed that up by conceding 16 in their next three league matches – a run that saw Scott Parker sacked following their 9-0 defeat to Liverpool – and now go into tomorrow’s game three unbeaten under caretaker boss Gary O’Neil.

All that has left the Cherries 12th in the table with eight points from their opening seven games.

If Bournemouth are to have a successful season, the second half of their trip to the City Ground at the start of the month might prove to be the turning point. Finding themselves 2-0 down at the break, having not scored in their previous four league games, Bournemouth rallied to net three times in 36 minutes to take all three points.

Bournemouth have conceded the second-most goals and given up the second-most shots in the Premier League but much of that damage has been done away from home.

At the Vitality Stadium they’ve kept two clean sheets in three; the only goals they’ve conceded coming in their 3-0 August defeat to Arsenal.

They have, on the flip side, only scored twice at home all campaign, both coming on the opening day against Villa.

Last season’s top scorer Dominic Solanke opened his account in that win over Forest while Philip Billing has scored in his last two outings.

The gameplan

Tom Crocker of the Bournemouth Echo said: “Over the summer, Scott 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”

Bournemouth analysis with Tom Crocker

Team news

Our injury issues continue to clear up with Kristoffer Ajer and Sergi Canós both in the squad against Arsenal before the international break.

Christian Nørgaard (achilles) remains a few weeks away but Ethan Pinnock (knee) is closing in on a return.

Bournemouth will be without five players tomorrow with captain Lloyd Kelly (ankle), Joe Rothwell (thigh), Ben Pearson (knee), David Brooks (hamstring) and Ryan Fredericks (calf) all out.

The manager

Gary O’Neil is making his first steps into coaching, following a 20-year playing career at the top levels of English football.

The midfielder made nearly 550 professional appearances in the Premier League and Sky Bet Championship for the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham United, Middlesbrough, and Norwich City.

He won promotion to the top flight four times and bookended his career with Player of the Season awards at Portsmouth in 2006 and Bolton Wanderers in 2019.

He retired at the end of that 2018/19 season and took up an assistant manager role with Liverpool’s Under-23s in August 2020.

O’Neil joined Bournemouth’s coaching staff under Jonathan Woodgate in February 2021, remaining at the club following Woodgate's departure at the end of the season.

He was then part of Scott Parker’s promotion-winning staff the following season, taking temporary charge at the end of August when Parker departed.

Last time out

Match officials

Referee: Thomas Bramall 

Assistant referees: Eddie Smart and Nick Greenhalgh 

Fourth official: Josh Smith 

VAR: John Brooks 

Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes

Thomas Bramall will take charge of us for just the second time tomorrow, our trip to the South Coast also being the Sheffield-based referee’s second ever Premier League fixture.

Bramall was appointed to the National List of Referees prior to the start of the 2018/19 season.

After a positive first season in the professional game, an ACL injury picked up in the summer of 2019 threatened to end his career at the elite level.

However, he returned to action in February 2020 and quickly picked up where he left off. He made his Championship debut the following season and took charge of the League Two Play-Off semi-final between Morecambe and Tranmere Rovers.

He was named in the Select Group Two of Championship Match Officials prior to the 21/22 season and, in January, took charge of his first Brentford game, overseeing our 4-1 FA Cup win at Port Vale.

This August saw Bramall make the step up to the top tier, taking charge of Fulham’s 2-1 win at home to Brighton.

AFC Bournemouth 22/23

77 fouls – third-most in Premier League

14 yellow cards – seventh in Premier League

0 red cards – joint-fewest in Premier League