AFC Bournemouth return to the Vitality Stadium this weekend to face a Tottenham Hotspur side short of form and short of players. Nerve Sport were at Gary O’Neil’s press conference on Thursday afternoon as he previewed what is sure to be a tough challenge against Antonio Conte’s men.
Bournemouth go into the fixture having lost their last two games, both including slightly controversial VAR decisions while Tottenham are three without a win with confidence low after a hugely disappointing VAR decision themselves in their midweek champions league clash against Sporting. The game is, on paper, O’Neil’s toughest test since he took control of The Cherries after their 9-0 defeat to Liverpool. Despite this, O’Neil is confident that his team can bring out a strong performance.
Some good and bad news on the injury front:
Following their Monday night clash away at West Ham, both Neto and Dominic Solanke picked up injuries which had to be assessed over the past week. It’s good news on the Solanke front as O’Neil confirms:
“Dom Solanke is a lot better than expected, so that's good news and we're hopeful."
Regarding the goalkeeper, the news is slightly worse:
“Neto will be out, he has an issue with his hamstring. We're not sure how long, but it won't be short term”
The injury to Neto means that Ireland international Mark Travers is likely to get a run back in the side. He lost his number one spot to Neto since O’Neil took charge, but O’Neil insists there are no number ones in his team.
Daring to do against Tottenham Hotspur:
As mentioned, O’Neil recognised that this is probably his toughest test since he took over the team. He’s spoken so positively about all his players in recent weeks, and when asked by Nerve Sport how he’s preparing them for the Tottenham clash, O’Neil responded:
“We need to make sure that we understand the game on Monday night in terms of where we were and what happened, and then we need to try and plan for what we think Tottenham will bring and I have no doubt the lads will be ready.”
Both clubs have suffered controversial VAR decisions against them recently, but O’Neil accepts that
“It’s just something that seems to be happening at the moment and I’m sure the people that are in control of those things are looking at it.”
Despite a recent dip in form, Tottenham haven’t been shy in front of goal this season, they will be tough to stop as O’Neil commented:
“We will need a really good team performance, we need to be firing on all cylinders and we need to execute a very detailed game plan, making sure the boys are ready and up for it. The backing of the fans will be huge at home, the connection between fans and players as a newly promoted team especially is huge. These home games you need them with you to help the boys.
The advantage of having the backing of our fans should make it easier for us and easier for the boys and hopefully it’ll feel like a tough place to come for away teams.”
One of the biggest challenges for Bournemouth this weekend will be stopping Harry Kane, the England captain is on 10 goals this season in the Premier League and is in very good form as he heads to the south coast. On how to stop him, and Tottenham in general, O’Neil admits it won’t be easy:
“Their whole front line is versatile; Son and Moura offer real pace and quality and obviously Kane can drop down and play on the top line or arrive in the box. He can finish well with both feet and when he does drop deep his quality of passing and his vision is top-level, so he’ll be difficult to stop but I have huge faith and trust in the group.”
With O’Neil not ruling out a return for Dominic Solanke this weekend it remains to be seen who Kane’s opposite number 9 will be. O’Neil says that Solanke and Moore have different strengths, but he would have no problem playing either of them:
“They [Moore and Solanke] have very different strengths so if one is in the team there may be things you can do to utilise them that you perhaps wouldn’t do if the other one was playing.”
Tottenham have one of the strongest defensive records in the Premier League and it won’t be easy to find the back of the net on Saturday. Despite this, O’Neil has faith in his sides scoring abilities:
“When you arrive in that area you need to be clinical and we have been, to be fair. We go away to Forest and score three, go away to Newcastle, and we’ve seen what they have done since, and take the lead with a great goal, the goals at Fulham were very good and we scored two at home to Leicester.
“It’s difficult but I don’t think it’s an alarming situation with the amount of goals so far. If you look at the table and where we are for goals scored in recent weeks, I think we’re doing okay.”
Will Tottenham prove too much for Bournemouth this weekend, or can The Cherries secure an underdog victory? Kick-off at the Vitality Stadium