Bournemouth vs Leicester City

Saturday’s Premier League action gets underway at the Vitality Stadium as promoted Bournemouth and Leicester City meet in a bottom-half six-pointer.

Scott Parker might have helped Bournemouth return to the Premier League. Yet only four matches into the new season, the former Fulham manager found himself out of a job as Bournemouth’s disastrous run of three defeats and one win forced his sacking. While waiting for the club to find a new permanent boss, the ‘Cherries’ look safe under Gary O’Neil’s interim charge as they’ve yet to lose a Premier League fixture under the 39-year-old (W1, D3). But Bournemouth would be silly to let their decent league run without losing tuck them in a false sense of security as they head into proceedings failed to get on the scoresheet in their last three home league outings (D2, L1). Against this backdrop, the ‘Cherries’ have won both previous top-flight home H2Hs against Leicester by 4-1 and 4-2, respectively.

In the meantime, visiting Leicester City pulled off a mammoth 4-0 home victory over Bournemouth’s fellow promoted rivals Nottingham Forest last time out, halting a disastrous seven-game winless start to the new Premier League season (D1, L6). Despite guiding his side to a morale-boosting home win, manager Brendan Rodgers is not off the hook yet by any stretch of the imagination. Seeking their first Premier League points on the road following four consecutive away defeats at the start of the season, the ‘Foxes’ can find some confidence in winning two of their last three top-flight encounters against Bournemouth (L1). Despite entering this round in the relegation zone, only five sides have netted more goals than Leicester (14) this term. But a porous backline remains a problem, with Leicester’s haul of 22 goals conceded representing the league’s worst ahead of the kick-off.