AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth travel to Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup, the first trip to the Pirelli Stadium since the club won promotion on a magical day in 2010.
But how are Burton shaping up heading into the third round of the Carabao Cup?
We asked Joshua Murray of the Burton Mail for his expert insight into the Brewers, and whether they can repeat their cup heroics of last season which see them reach the semi-final of the competition.
afcb.co.uk: Firstly how are Burton Albion looking heading into this one?
JM: I think they’re pretty pleased with their start to the season so far, but they’re on a little bit of a downer going into tomorrow’s game due to the last two league games.
They were winning both heading into stoppage time and then ended up only taking one point from the two games – one against Portsmouth where they battled brilliantly and then away at Tranmere, in control but just capitulated.
Slightly undermined what has been a good start of the season really, they had a good finidh to last season and carried the form over, pretty pleased with most of result last week perhaps undermined it slightly.
afcb.co.uk: You mention those disappointments, does that mean that this game comes at a good time for them to change their focus?
JM: I asked that to Nigel Clough yesterday, is it almost a good time to have this game now and he was pretty honest. He’d rather go into it having six points, but there’s attention on the cups now as they have no league game at the weekend, so it’s a slight change in focus and I would say it probably hasn’t come at a bad time for them.
They had that run to the semi-final last season so the squad seem to enjoy playing in the competition.
afcb.co.uk: Talking about that cup run, they beat some big teams on their way to the semi-final, how important was that and how much of an impact did it have?
JM: It was brilliant to be honest and they needed it, they had been relegated to the Championship 18 months ago and their first half of the season in League One up and down, they started poorly.
Their cup run was the backbone to the season and served a purpose of getting them consistent, then they also beat Burnley, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough. They were big upsets and there were a couple of memorable nights under the lights at the Pirelli Stadium.
The quarter final win against Middlesbrough was a memorable one, Boro put out a strong team and and there were so many injuries for Burton.
But they showed character to win, other than when they got promoted a few years previously to the Championship I had never seen celebrations like it from the manager, players and fans alike.
It will be appreciated more over time, but when you looked at the semi-final draw it was Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Burton Albion, so that puts it into context!
afcb.co.uk: Who are the dangermen that The Cherries should look out for?
JM: I would usually say midfielder Scott Fraser, it was his first season last season and he put in some great performances in that cup run. He’s a goalscoring midfielder, a skilful dribbler and dangerous on the edge of the box.
He’s a doubt with an ankle injury, so other than that there’s the striker Liam Boyce who’s a real focal point in attack and Nathan Broadhead, he’s a quick winger who scored two on his debut against Gillingham.
afcb.co.uk: Just finally, how do you see the game going?
JM: Well it will be entertaining, Bournemouth play such good football and Burton do the same at their level, they get the ball down and play.
So if they can pick themselves up from the disappointments and bounce back despite some injuries, I think they could score one or two, so I’ll go 2-2 and onto penalties!
