AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they face Championship rivals Preston North End on Wednesday (7.45pm kick-off).
Goals from Dominic Solanke and Jamal Lowe earned the Cherries a 2-0 win at Reading on Saturday as Scott Parker’s team extended to 15 games their record-breaking run.
Preston have taken 18 points from their first 15 games and are currently 19th but a congested table sees them just six points behind sixth-placed Blackpool.
Frankie McAvoy, appointed in the summer as the club’s first head coach, presided over three successive league defeats at the start of the season.
However, just one defeat in their next ten games, coupled with progression in the Carabao Cup, saw them recover, the run including no fewer than six draws.
Despite winning on their past two visits to Vitality Stadium, the Lilywhites’ last tasted victory on their travels on the final day of 2020/21, winning 2-1 at Nottingham Forest.
An impressive return of 11 away wins last season included triumphing against play-off finalists Brentford and Swansea.
This season, Preston have drawn on the road at Bristol City, Sheffield United and Birmingham and lost at Reading, Huddersfield, QPR and, most recently, against arch rivals Blackpool.
Ahead of the clash, afcb.co.uk caught up with Dave Seddon who follows the fortunes of the Lilywhites for the Lancashire Evening Post.
PRESTON NORTH END PROFILE
Ground: Deepdale
Nickname: The Lilywhites
Head coach: Frankie McAvoy (appointed May 2021)
Club captain: Alan Browne
Current league position: 19th
Leading goalscorer 2021/22: Emil Riis (11 in all competitions)
Last game: Preston North End 2-0 Luton Town (Championship)
afcb.co.uk: How would you sum up the season so far for North End?
DS: Mixed. The home form has generally been good. They lost their first three games of the season against Hull, Reading and Huddersfield.
Then, they stabilised their home form with a couple of wins before they had a run of draws.
That’s okay if you get a couple of wins at the end of it but, after five draws on the bounce, they lost at QPR.
Since the October international break, the home form has been better, the away form not so good.
They lost 2-0 against local rivals Blackpool in their last away game. It was the first time North End had played them for eight years and it didn’t go down well.
There is a bit of a negative swill among the fan base about that at the moment.
afcb.co.uk: Give us a bit of background on head coach Frankie McAvoy (pictured above)?
DS: Frankie came to Preston with Alex Neil in 2017, previously having been with him at Hamilton Academical and Norwich.
When Neil got the sack in March, Frankie was offered the job and was given it on an interim basis. He won five, drew two and lost just one of his eight games and was offered the job permanently in the summer.
It was the first time Preston had had a head coach as opposed to a manager.
He’s very much at home on the training pitch. Like a lot of Preston managers in the past, he’s Scottish. The club has a strong link with Scottish managers.
He’s very much a coach’s man. He didn’t play football as a professional, he was an amateur player in Scotland.
He was an academy coach at Dunfermline and then moved to Hamilton where he first linked up with Neil.
afcb.co.uk: What would you say are Preston’s realistic ambitions for the season?
DS: With them being in 19th place at the moment, you’ve got to think staying up. But we’re only in early November.
Realistically, is the squad strong enough to go above halfway? I’m not too sure.
I wouldn’t say it was strong enough to push for the play-offs but when you see how few points there are between fifth and 19th, there is not a lot dividing the teams.
A run of three or four wins can shoot you up the table and get everybody excited.
Since Alex Neil’s first season in charge (2017/18) when they finished seventh, that’s the highest position for quite a while. I’d see them as a mid-table team.
That said, they have played Luton and Coventry in the past few weeks, both were in the top six and North End beat them both.
I didn’t see a lot on the pitch to suggest Luton and Coventry are any better than North End. That’s the Championship for you.
afcb.co.uk: How has Patrick Bauer (pictured above) returned following his season-ending injury at Vitality Stadium last season?
DS: He’s done really well. The time estimate on his return from a ruptured Achilles was between seven and nine months and he made it back in seven.
He was doing some light jogging towards the end of last season and a lot of his time was spent at the training ground over the summer.
His aim was to make the first day of pre-season on July 1st which he did. He came through pre-season well and they nursed him through at the start of the season.
He didn’t start the first three or four league games but got a couple of Carabao Cup games in. He’s played every game since mid to late August.
afcb.co.uk: Who has been the pick of the summer signings?
DS: Two of the summer signings were on loan last season – Daniel Iversen (pictured above) from Leicester and Sepp van den Berg from Liverpool.
They were here for the second half of last season and North End managed to get them both back on season-long loans. They have both impressed.
Ali McCann came in from St Johnstone on deadline day and he’s shown a lot of promise. I think he could be the pick of the permanent bunch.
Iversen and van den Berg have shown their quality and I’d say Iversen is one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship.
afcb.co.uk: Who is North End’s one to watch?
DS: At the moment, it’s got to be Emil Riis (pictured above).
He’s scored 11 goals this season, seven in the Championship and four in the Carabao Cup, and is playing with a lot of confidence.
He’s a former Denmark under-21 international. They signed him in October 2020 from Randers in Denmark. When he first came to England in the transfer window, he started well but seemed to lose his way a little.
He got back into the team when McAvoy took interim charge in April and had a run of games then.
This season, something seems to have clicked. He’s looked really sharp and seems to have adapted to the English game.
He came during lockdown and didn’t have his family with him. Now he’s settled and we are just starting to see the best of him. He’s only 23 and I think there’s a lot more to come from him.
afcb.co.uk: Are any key players either suspended or injured against the Cherries?
DS: Ched Evans has a foot injury and won’t be fit. Matthew Olosunde is close to returning but not quite ready.
Josh Murphy (pictured above), who’s on a season-long loan from Cardiff, strained an ankle ligament recently so he’s out.
Izzy Brown ruptured his Achilles in pre-season and isn’t expected back until later in the season.
They’ve got more long-term injuries as opposed to anything from the past couple of games.
afcb.co.uk: What’s your score prediction?
DS: I’m going to sit on the fence and go for a brave 1-1 draw!
You can follow Dave on Twitter – @Sedds_lep
Officials: David Webb (referee), George Byrne (assistant), Daniel Leach (assistant), Sam Allison (fourth official).
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