2024/25 Premier League Preview - AFC Bournemouth

Last season was arguably Bournemouth’s best in the Premier League. Amassing a record 48 points which saw them finish in 12th place is by all accounts a fantastic achievement for a team with limited spending power and resources. They were only a few points away from reaching their highest ever Premier League position (9th) but an end of season slump taking only 6 points from a possible 15 halted any possibility of a top half finish.

After the somewhat controversial dismissal of Gary O’Neil, Andoni Iraola was handed the reins at the Vitality Stadium last summer and appears to have silenced any critics from last season, something owner Bill Foley will be thankful for following his call for the unexpected manager switch. Iraola quickly changed up the way Bournemouth played and it proved very effective, earning him a nomination for Premier League manager of the season.

Last season they were ranked 5th out of Premier League teams for tackles in their opposition’s defensive third as Iraola had Bournemouth operating further up the pitch, applying far more pressure on their opposition. Their workrate and pressing were a major factor in a dominant 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford which was their highlight game of the season back in December 2023. Dominic Solanke also enjoyed a prolific season, scoring 19 goals in the Premier League but the Cherries will have to make do without him after he completed a move to Tottenham for £65m. Bournemouth have immediately sprung into action after receiving this huge fee and have already had a bid rejected for Porto’s Evanilson. Eddie Nketiah has also emerged as a target after his move to Marseille failed to materialise.

Prior to the sale of Solanke, Iraola said in a recent interview “We mostly continue with the same group of players from the past season”. He went on to acknowledge the loss of centre back Lloyd Kelly, another one of Bournemouth’s standout players from last season, who has left on a free transfer to Newcastle United. But at no point did he indicate any first team ready players on the way in. There has already been slight activity though, but these have only been in the form of the permanent signings of Enes Ünal and Luis Sinisterra who had already been on loan at the club. It’s expected that they will of course sign a striker but it is necessary that the void Kelly has left is filled, but as to who it is or when this will occur, remains very much unknown.

The fear for Bournemouth right now is that they appear to have too many areas of need that they have the financial means to address, which does have critics thinking that a repeat of last season is already off the cards. They do possess good amounts of quality in the squad but lack a lot of creativity in attacking areas which could hurt them. No Bournemouth player managed to move beyond 5 assists last season which is a massively concerning statistic, especially when they average less possession than their opposition (44.4%) and their best striker is now gone.

Next season will likely prove to be very tough for Bournemouth and it is expected that they will be further down the table compared to last season, albeit not relegated. The strength of the teams moving into the Premier League from the Championship will give Bournemouth more competition than they faced last season as well as other teams that finished around them putting far more investment into their squads that some would deem are already better. Again, it would be safe to assume that they are not a top relegation candidate based on last season’s performances but nothing can be guaranteed and a poor run of form at any stage of the season could leave them in a worse position than what has been predicted.

League prediction: 15th

Squad grade: D+

Manager grade: C+