International breaks are finally over until March, meaning for the next four or so months it’s nothing but Cherries, especially heading into the busy festive period. This run of games starts with the visit of West Ham to Dean Court, after what was a turbulent international break for Andoni Iraola’s side. Here is my predicted lineup based off his recent press conference, followed by a match preview:

GK: Djordje Petrovic

Petrovic shipped seven goals in two matches before the break, and will have been disappointed not to have played a single minute for his country despite previously being firm number one. He won’t have to worry about not starting in this one, though.

RB: Alex Jimenez

Adam Smith started in place of Jimenez at Villa Park, but was brought off after just seven minutes due to a nasty head collision with Tyler Adams. Smith hasn’t been ruled out of this one yet, and Jimenez was brought off at halftime of that Villa Park clash after a very poor performance, but I would expect him to start over Smith here, having not played over the International break, therefore hopefully being fully fit for this one.

CBs: Bafode Diakite + Marcos Senesi

Senesi’s centre back partners have chopped and change in recent weeks, with Diakite starting at City before Veljko Milosavjlevic came in for him at Villa Park. Diakite didn’t go away on international break, though, and even though Veljko didn’t play a minute, he should be the fresher option to partner Senesi and hopefully regain some confidence after a rocky outing at City.

LB: Adrien Truffert

After a flying start to the season, Truffert endured a tricky couple of outings at City and Villa, struggling in both games. Julio Soler was fit but wasn’t even in the squad for those games, so must be chomping at the bit for some minutes. However, I would expect Truffert to get the nod again and hopefully regain his terrific form.

DM (‘6’): Tyler Adams

Adams wasn’t at his best at Villa Park – but it’s incredible that he managed to last the whole game given the magnitude of his collision with Smith. As a result, he withdrew from international duty, and remains in concussion protocols, but hasn’t been ruled out of this one. Given his importance to the team, I would expect him to start here, but as he is on 4 yellow cards, I feel it won’t be long until Lewis Cook makes his first start of the season.

CM (‘8’): Alex Scott

From Andoni Iraola’s POV, in regards to Scott, it was probably the perfect international break. He didn’t play a minute, but undoubtedly learnt a lot from training and being in-and-around the England set-up. As well as that, England’s last game was on Sunday, meaning Scott was back for some time with the Cherries. He’s almost guaranteed to start this one after his main competition, Ryan Christie, played big minutes over the break.

AM (’10’): Marcus Tavernier

When Justin Kluivert was injured earlier in the season, it was Tavernier who took his role in the ’10’ (behind the striker), and even held that position with Kluivert being fit. The Dutchman is injured again, and I expect it to be Tavernier who finds himself back in that position from the off – although some Junior Kroupi minutes behind the striker are an intriguing prospect at some stage.

Wingers: David Brooks + Antoine Semenyo

Tavernier moving to the ’10’ and Ben Gannon-Doak being injured (a long term hamstring problem which may require surgery) means your options out wide are David Brooks, Junior Kroupi (who played on the left for France U-21 over the break), Antoine Semenyo and Amine Adli. Brooks scored for Wales on Tuesday and has certainly won the trust of Andoni Iraola this season, so I expect him to start (and probably captain the side) tomorrow. Semenyo is a doubt with an ankle injury, which he first felt against Aston Villa and aggravated whilst away with Ghana – but this man is made of stern stuff, and very rarely misses games for the club. If there’s even a chance he will play, that usually means we see him in the starting XI.

ST: Evanilson

Many would select Kroupi here, but it’s evident that Evanilson is the preferred, all-round choice for Iraola. As well as that, Kroupi played two matches on international duty, with Evanilson staying on the south coast. Kroupi may well be kept on the bench so he can fill any forward role behind the striker, with Enes Unal perhaps returning to the squad as backup to Evanilson. The Brazilian does need a goal desparetly, though.

Match Preview

I haven’t seen many speak about it – but West Ham have quietly become a bogey team for AFCB, with no wins in the last eight games against the Hammers.

The visitors should come into this one full of confidence after two wins on the bounce before the break – unlike the Cherries, the break probably came at the wrong time for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

But whilst West Ham have become a bogey team (if you believe in that sort of thing), Nuno has failed to beat Iraola in four attempts, despite his more pragmatic approach usually being something of a kryptonite for Iraola.

As earlier stated, it was a turbulent international break, to put it lightly, losing Kluivert and Gannon-Doak, with Semenyo now a doubt for this one. However, AFCB still have a good range of attacking options to choose from, and having not lost at home in the league so far this season, should also go into this one with some confidence.

Lucas Paqueta is suspended for this one after picking up five yellow cards for the season, whilst late calls will be made on Kostas Mavropanos and Niclas Fullkrug. Young left-back Ollie Scarles remains out with a dislocated shoulder. Callum Wilson could make his first ever league appearance against AFCB – having been absent for every single league fixture between the clubs whilst at Newcastle (he did feature in the Carabao Cup defeat at St James’ Park).

It’s hard to see how this one goes – the Hammers have been so poor for the large majority of the season, even under Nuno, and weren’t great in their final game against Burnley, but winning breeds confidence. On the other hand, AFCB were very poor by their high standards in their last two games before in the international break, so will be hoping for a fast start in order to erase that from memory.

Hopefully, Iraola will be able to get the better of Nuno again, although I suspect it won’t be an easy game.

PREDICTION: AFC Bournemouth 2-1 West Ham United