Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth

Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth are set to square off at the City Ground in their opening 2024/25 Premier League fixture.

Nottingham Forest defied a point deduction for financial manipulations last season to avoid relegation to the Championships, finishing 17th, six points clear of the drop zone. It was a turbulent campaign for the club as they sacked long-serving manager Steve Cooper and replaced him with Nuno Espirito Santo in December 2023. After a torrid first season at the helm, the Portuguese tactician hopes for a better second year after signing Nikola Milenkovic and Jota Silva, hoping to replicate a five-game unbeaten home run from the start of last season (W2, D3). Espirito Santo’s side fared reasonably well in pre-season (W3, D2, L1), signing off with a goal-glutted 4-3 win against Europa Conference League winners Olympiacos. It could give them strength to overcome a disastrous eight-game winless H2h run against Bournemouth (D3, L5).

Unlike Forest, Bournemouth’s decision to swap managers at the start of last season was a resounding success. Despite starting his first Premier League campaign on a nine-match winless run (D3, L6), Andoni Iraola guided the Cherries to a respectable 12th-place finish. The Spaniard will gun for a more inspiring start this term, although his side capped off the 2023/24 league season on a three-game losing streak. That’s not an easy feat, especially after sanctioning Dominic Solanke’s £65m move to Tottenham. Losing their most prolific player late in the summer spells trouble for Bournemouth’s bid to improve their paltry scoring return on the road, which saw them net under 1.5 goals on their last five Premier League travels (W1, L4). Against this backdrop, they’ve averaged 2.67 goals per game across their three most recent visits to the City Ground, winning each by a single-goal margin.