Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 19th August 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Bournemouth will be looking to register a seventh straight win in all competitions when they host Stuart Pearce’s Nottingham Forest at their Dean Court ground in Tuesday night’s round of Championship matches.
Bournemouth have come a long way since former manager Eddie Howe returned for his second stint at the club with a brief spell at Burnley in between, but The Cherries and Eddie Howe seem to be synonymous with each other and they’re now enjoying their second season in the second tier this term.
The south coast club finished in a very creditable 10th place last season with an overall home record of 11-5-7 40/27 with only third placed Derby County and league champions Leicester City (both with 46 goals) scoring more goals at home than The Cherries.
And I can’t see any reason for the goals to stop on home turf either as Howe has secured the services of former Coventry City striker Callum Wilson who netted 21 goals with the Sky Blues last season, along with former Burnley forward Junior Stanislas.
Visitors Nottingham Forest were in the frame for a play-off place for quite a long time last season before tailing off in dramatic fashion which saw former manager Billy Davies (who had also returned for a second stint at the City Ground) replaced with former player Gary Brazil.
However, Brazil’s tenure only lasted three months as he also failed to turn around Forest’s fortunes which ultimately saw the Tricky Trees win just two league matches from their last sixteen – hence, they missed out on the play-offs in the end by some margin.
Too many draws on the road hampered Nottingham Forest’s progress up the division last season but with the new signing of exciting striker Britt Assombalonga from Peterborough United, this gives Forest a new attacking edge that had previously been missing.
Bournemouth hold a pretty steady record on home turf and with the return of Nottingham Forest’s ‘Messiah’ – Stuart Pearce, I reckon he’ll keep his squad honest and hungry this time around, so I expect both teams to find the net here tonight. May perhaps end up a 1-1 draw.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 1.73 Stan James
