Ben Stewart
How Bournemouth have made themselves competitive in the Premier League
Bournemouth were tipped as the favourites for relegation at the start of the season, but they currently find themselves in the top half of the table.
The Cherries have had an interesting start to life in the Premier League and have already had plenty of ups and downs.
How last season went
Last season was quite the campaign for Bournemouth as they managed to secure promotion to the Premier League by finishing in second place.
Scott Parker had been installed as the new manager and he brought some fresh ideas to the club.
Bournemouth’s best run of form came at the start of the season as they went their first 15 Championship matches unbeaten.
Bournemouth then signed eight new players in the January transfer window in a bid to get over the line and back into the Premier League.
While Bournemouth’s momentum did slowdown in the second half of the season, they did enough to get over the line in the end.
Scott Parker’s side finished the season in second place with a total of 88 points.
They scored 74 goals and conceded just 39 throughout the campaign.
Bournemouth were promoted with one of the best squads in the Championship, but they knew they would have to take their squad to the next level in order to compete in the Premier League.
Parker’s final days
Parker began the season as Bournemouth manager and things got off to a pretty good start for the Cherries.
Bournemouth won their opening day fixture against Aston Villa and also kept a clean sheet in the process.
Parker cut a frustrated figure in the opening month of the season though as he didn’t seem to be happy with the amount of recruitment they had managed to do in the summer.
Bournemouth then went on to lose their next three fixtures by a combined score of 16-0.
The fixture list had taken a severe turn though and the Cherries weren’t expected to get anything from games against Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Bournemouth’s 9-0 loss to Liverpool was the final nail in the coffin for Parker though, who was dismissed by the club after the disappointing spell.
How they have fixed their problems
The first job Bournemouth had was to make themselves more competitive at the back and they soon managed to do that.
The Cherries have only conceded four goals in their last five matches and they have kept two clean sheets in that time.
Mark Travers had been one of Bournemouth’s best players in the Championship, but Neto has proven himself to be a level above.
The Brazilian goalkeeper has 1.7 goals in the Premier League this season, which is the fifth most of any goalkeeper in the league.
The Cherries have been given a new lease of life recently and even when they fall behind, they don’t allow their heads to drop.
They managed to win games against Leicester and Nottingham Forest, despite falling behind in each of them.
Bournemouth currently find themselves on 12 points and are eighth in the Premier League.
If Bournemouth continue to pick up points at a rate of 1.33 points per game, they will finish the season on 50 points.
For context, 50 points would have seen them finish 11th in the table last season and 15 points above the relegation zone.
Of course it is expected that their PPG could fall when their fixtures start to get tough again, but they have managed to make themselves competitive in a relatively short space of time.
Next up for Bournemouth is a game against Fulham, who they were promoted from the Championship alongside.
Bournemouth currently rank as the best of the newly promoted clubs, but there is still a long way to go.