THIS WILL NOT BE AN EASY GAME! | Arsenal vs Bournemouth Preview FT @afcbpodcast

As Ian Wright said there, people deluded, I'm back again. I've got a special guest with it being Arsenal against Bournemouth on Saturday. It's only right I've got a Bournemouth fan. Sam, appreciative for doing this. How are you doing, my friend? Thanks, man. Doing very well, mate. Happy with where we are in the league. All things are good down on the south coast, mate. Just hoping we don't have a repeat of last season at the Emirates, which was probably the most painful experience I've had in football. Amen. Amen. I definitely don't want that. I actually look into this game and I would love to know your thoughts. I potentially feel this is somewhat of a banana skin. Obviously, us Arsenal fans are on cloud nine. It's a difficult task beating City to the Premier League trophy, but we've got to win all our games. I think fans can be forgiven for thinking every game is somewhat of a walk over the park. I think against Bournemouth, that isn't the case. Since November, you've been great. Your manager's doing great stuff. You play great football. There's a lot of parallels between your Spanish manager and ours. Paint me a picture as to what Bournemouth season has been like for us non-Bournemouth fans. It's been good. It's been good. We had a bit of a slow start and that's probably expected. A group of players that were playing some pragmatic, purposeful football under Gary O'Neill have had to learn a brand new style of self-branded, e-branded, chaotic football. It's very front foot, on the counter attack, trying to win the ball up high, high press, that kind of thing. It took a while for us to get used to it, but in October, November, it suddenly clicked. Since then, I think the last 25 games, there's been these league tables all over Twitter and stuff. Last 25 games, we are in the top five in terms of points we've gained because I think after the first nine, we only had three points on the table, but now we're doing well. I think Europe is out of our grasp, but to be a top 10 size of us is superb. Fans are really happy. They're being entertained, which is the main thing, plus we're getting points on the board as well. All smiles down here. You said it there and it's nice to see you've got a smile on your face because as I said, I think there's a lot of parallels between Bournemouth and their other manager and Gary O'Neill to where you are now and obviously us with Mikel Arteta. You said it there, it's been doing the rounds on social media. You lot would be fifth if the league table was from November till now, so it is kind of scary. What can we expect tactically from Bournemouth? It's quite difficult at the moment because we've got so many injuries. It's unreal and one of the players I really wanted to be playing that probably isn't is Antoine Semenu that picked up an injury. We don't quite know the extent of that. Hopefully it's not an ACL, but he's absolutely key. But what we will be doing is trying to go for it. I'm a bit worried because when you've got two teams that play in a similar style, I think it's technical quality that wins the game and Arsenal are far superior in that department. But yeah, you'll see us have a go. Can't quite promise the 11 second goal that we had last time with Philip Billing. However, we will certainly go for it. We don't play little cheeky passes like tiki-taka stuff for the sake of it. I think we did that a little bit last season and it didn't really get us anywhere. Nice to watch. You've got lots of possession, but not doing much with it. So we're very economical with the ball. I wouldn't say we're long ball by any stretch of the imagination, but we do like to mix it up and we usually like to play with a 4-2-3-1. Whether he'll chuck an extra central defender in, I'm not too sure. But the onus is always on the full backs to get up the pitch. So you'll see on the heat maps of Adam Smith at right back and whoever's left back, probably Lloyd Kelly, they will be right up those touchlines and they'll be key trying to get the balls in the boxes and feed Dom Solanke. So I'm really excited for the game. Nervous, but I am excited. I'm everything. I'm nervous. I'm scared. I'm fearful of what our opponents and you guys can bring. I'm kind of confident in the form we've been playing with. What's been the changes with Gary O'Neill? Because I think he's doing quite well. Wolves are rating quite highly. I don't know where it'd be at Bournemouth because you're not probably excluding Wolves knowing better than anyone. So how was his time there and what's been the changes beyond the obvious? I think his time was pretty good. I've said this previously, but the media sort of painted it out to be some kind of miracle when we survived. Although I don't really see it as that, given in January he was given a transfer wall chest and a load of players for a lot of money that helped to get him over the line. I think we made hard work of certain games. I think Wolves are experiencing that a little bit this season, not really beating teams in and around you, but all of a sudden randomly just getting these big results. And that's what we got last season. Your North London rivals, North London was definitely ranked that day with a last minute 3-2 win. So that kind of negated the pain that we had a month previous at the Emirates. We played all right, but we turned up in games where we didn't expect to, but didn't in the ones that we did. I think it was purposeful. Like I said, it's pragmatic, not overly easy on the eye. He had a tendency to, once we took the lead, handbrake would be on and therefore we'd invite teams to come at us. Whereas now I think it's more like when we had Eddie Howard as manager, more like, well, if you score three, we'll score four, as we proved against Luton Town, we will go for it. And yeah, we won't take our foot off the gas. And that's what's just been really entertaining for us this season. So you know what, win or lose the season, it's been a breath of fresh air to watch. So we've been more than happy with the way we've been playing, but we've been on a good run of form. It's been great. Playing Arsenal though, is a different matter because this season, you are scintillating to watch. You scored the most goals, conceded the fewest and play, you know, yes, we are a banana skin, but I think the way we play, weirdly, plays into your hands a little bit. So I think it's going to be a good game anyway. I think you touched on it there. I think because of the managers and their philosophy, and I think because of like them being Spanish and their whole ethos around football, I do think it kind of suits us because you lot won't make it a crazy sort of typical poster game of English football, where it's direct all men's to the pump intensity and things like that. I think it will be a bit of a chess match. And I do hope, like you said earlier, that it does go down to individual quality because I am betting on Bakayo Saka and things like that. You mentioned form and everybody knows how great your home form is, but obviously you're travelling to our place. Has there been any contrasts in away form or anything like that? I think our away form has been pretty good, really. One thing we are missing this season, I'm sorry to say this, is a statement result. We haven't had that so far this season. Last season we did. Okay, actually, I'll tell a lie, beating Man United on their own patch 3-0 was pretty good, but they are awful anyway. So is it that big a result? I don't know. You've got to go to them pretty soon. I'm sure you'll smash them because they're not that great. On the road, yeah, we have been pretty solid really, but I would say it's pretty much 50-50 at home. That's where we've been picking up our points really. It's quite a fortress now at Dean Court, which is all Vitality stadiums, most people know it. But away from home, we've had some losses that have been pretty poor, such as at Fulham, but then we've managed to grind out results at some places like Wolves, our last away game. So yeah, it's pretty hit and miss. I do fear for this weekend though, because there will be a quality mismatch at times, I feel. But I'm just hoping that Andonio has got the boys playing and that we should be in a confident mood. So who knows? Like you said there, you should be filled with confidence. You're formed, it takes that, what you're doing, what your manager's doing. I'm always fearful of where we play teams we're expected to win, because if we win, it's not going to get too much airtime. If we lose, then that's a whole other talking point. So I always think you lot have nothing to lose, and not to say my team's the best in the world, but I always look at other teams and that these are the games, if you sign for a Premier League club, you kind of relish playing the traditional bigger clubs and things like that, and seeing your quality. So I am kind of fearful of that. How far do you rate your manager? Because I don't feel he gets enough PR. I don't know what he needs to do in that regards. But the more research I do on him and his tactical setups, and what led to him being this kind of manager, I've got nothing but respect for him. And I think him and Mikel Arteta, they're both in their early 40s. So again, this direct kind of parallels. But what would your thoughts be seeing him obviously manage the team? He's been superb for us. I think the media obviously labelled it as scandalous and ludicrous. And some people called it a joke when Gary O'Neill was let go. And on the surface, yeah, I can see why some people said it was harsh, a guy that led us to safety. But I think it's the ceiling and where we could get under Areola. I think we got a higher ceiling for sure, because it is exciting. But the points are there to be seen. We've scored more goals already. That was the case a few games ago, conceded fewer, more points on the table. This season has presented our best ever Premier League points tally, which at the moment is 48. If we're over 50, that'll be great. Our previous highest was under Eddie in 2016-17 season. We got 46 points, which led us to ninth place. It'd be great if we could emulate that again. Even eighth place is on the table as well. So for a small club like us, it's huge. But at the moment, we're in, I'd say, a transitional phase because we've got new ownership that we had at the start of the season or towards the middle of last season. We've got an American investor, Michael B. Jordan is involved. They own the Las Vegas Golden Knights. They've got hands in Herbarium Football Club. Lorient in France are setting up a new team in the Aussie A-League in Auckland. So we're part of this kind of multi-club strategy sort of thing. A bit like what Manchester City have. Yeah, but Bournemouth are at the top of the pyramid, which is mad because when you see our stadium, it's like, our stadium's so small, but that's where we are. That's the lure of the Premier League. So we got investment. We want to spend in the summer. I think, unfortunately, there might be a couple of big departures that will help fuel our spending, which, you know, he's probably going to be one of them. I'm sure we're going to be speaking about him at some point, but yeah, we're looking to invest in our own, as promised, promised European football within five years. And, you know, he promised that we wouldn't get relegated. Yeah, I know exactly. I mean, when he came in, we were 19th in the Premier League. I think when we had just lost to you, we went bottom that weekend and we're all thinking that clip of him saying, and it was on video, we won't get relegated. That's going to be memed up all over Twitter. It's like, this is not good, but thankfully we had a really good April and things turned out okay. But he said like new stadiums on the horizon at some point soon, a new training facility that's being built, that's going to be ready end of the year. So that means the new kind of area where the new stadium would be cleared. And you know what? Yeah, things are looking on the up and he's born within Europe in five years. Like, I don't know how many we'd take away, what, a hundred? Who knows, but either way it would be superb for a club like us. So yeah, we're looking to sort of emulate the Brighton model, I think. And at the moment, early signs are good for that. And I think you're bang on the money, man. And I'd say most importantly, just to know that you're speaking with a smile on your face, because as we know, football fans, in theory, it doesn't make sense to the amount of support we give our clubs really and truly. There's other aspects of our life we visit. So it's lovely to see that the managers and the owners are speaking with conviction, even where, as you said, when you're rock bottom, you don't really want to hear that. You can't really see that when they say things like, we're not going to get relegated and we're going to get in Europe, but it's nice to see that it's kind of worked out. You mentioned Solanke and I do want to touch on him. How good has he been? How good do you think he can go? And like, what sort of fee do you see him commanding? Yeah, so we bought him for £20 million from Liverpool. And that was a point in time where we were almost writing blank cheques to Liverpool for some of their players, like Jordan Ibe for £15 million. It didn't really work out. And obviously he had his sort of mental health problems, which was sad to see Nathaniel Cline and there were a series of other players that we just bought. And at the time it was a bit... Yeah, that's right. He was on loan with us for a bit. But you know what? Dom Solanke, he came and it was very difficult for him at the time because Callum Wilson was our main striker. So very difficult to break in. We never usually played with two strikers at that point in time. We sort of went down to playing in a similar formation to what we are now, really, with one up top. So we found it very difficult to break through. So chances in the Premier League were fairly limited. I think going down to the Championship was, for a couple of seasons, probably the best thing that happened to him, really, because he got a season to find his feet. And then in our second Championship season, where we got promoted, he scored 30 goals that season. We were all wondering, would it translate into the Premier League? It did. And this season is really where it's happening for him. He's such a pivotal player and that's what I fear if we lose him next season, in terms of his hold-up play. He's good, he's strong, he's quick, he's really agile, knows where the goal is. I think previously he tended to overthink chances when he's one-on-one. He's got a bit of time to think about it. That's what we've got in his head a little bit. Now he's just got that ruthlessness, which is really good to see. Heading towards 20 goals for Bournemouth, that's superb. One of the top English strikers out there, along with Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins. I think probably pushing for a spot in the Euros. Sorry, in the summer would be a little bit too much of a stretch for him. However, I think in terms of a fee, I don't know. Annoyingly, we just found out the other day that Liverpool have got a 20% sell-on clause, so we wouldn't get as much as we would want. But yeah, it does. So, I don't know, 60 maybe, 55 something. Yeah, somewhere around those marks. He's proven himself, but what kind of club would he go to? That's what I don't really know. So, I'd be interested to see his movements in the summer. Do you think he'll stay in the summer? Obviously, you're not a transfer guru, but your gut feeling, do you think he's off, or do you think he's staying? I'd love him to. I would love him to, but I think he's going. I think he's going. Most people, like local media journalists around AFC Bournemouth, sense that he's going to go. He's been a loyal servant, and he'll go with most Cherries fans applauding him for wanting bigger things, and I get that. It's a shame we couldn't maybe command European football this season, because that may have tempted him to stay. But no, to be honest, I think he'll probably go, which will be sad to see, but fair play to him. So, who's the other poster boys in the Bournemouth squad? Because you mentioned Bieling earlier, and he did announce himself to Arsenal fans last year. Who's the other poster boys or people that could make the step up, or your more favoured players, if that makes sense? We've got a few, really. Most of them are sort of wingers, like Justin Kluivert, finally shaking off the stereotype of just being his dad's son. He's actually forming a career for himself now, and he's scored in the top five leagues in Europe. He's already beaten his dad's tally for best Premier League goals return, I think, for Newcastle. Patrick had six, Kluivert's got seven, Justin's got seven, and you know what? Great player. Antoine Semenya, we picked up from Bristol City for a snip, really, in and around £10m. He's been absolute superb, and he's going to be a huge miss for us. But then there are players that just go under the radar, like Ryan Christie, who plays absolute workhorse, absolute engine on him. If only he could score, because he doesn't really pop up with the numbers. He would be playing for some of the best teams in the world, and Scotland would be winning the Euros, that's what I'm saying. He's absolutely superb. Yeah, he really is. And then other players like Lloyd Kelly, superb. He's been linked away, probably going to move as well in the summer, like Lewis Sinisterra that we got from Leeds United. He's all in our wingers at the moment. He's a quality player for us and has had limited time due to injury. Tyler Adams, as well, that we got from Leeds United as well, barely played. But things are looking good for next season, man, even with the losses. So, yeah, there are a lot of players that aren't, I would say, your fashionable players and aren't really on the lips of your pundits, because they're just very solid seven out of ten players every week. But they do a superb job for us. If we were a bigger club, if we were a top-six club, and those players were putting in the same performances, they'd be household names, but because they're not, then they sort of go under the radar. So, like Ryan Christie, Lewis Cook, players like that don't really get mentioned, but that's OK for us. We're happy with that. Lewis Cook's another good player, very high technical level. And these are the sort of things that I'm fearful of beyond the obvious and what we've talked about. I start to look at individual quality, because I know you kind of downplayed your team in comparison to us, but Lewis Cook has a great passing range, Sinisterra. If you're a full-back, you don't really want to play one versus him. Solanke, the main thing with him is confidence at the moment, but his general play, and obviously he's a predator in front of goal. I actually feel your full-back's put in a shift, and when you couple that in with what your manager does, there's big tests out there. So how do you feel about the last three, four games that you guys have? Because I quickly browsed before we started. I actually think you've got three London teams in what's left, and obviously it starts with us. Yeah, I mean, this weekend's going to be very difficult. It really is. It would be great to upset the Applecart, but if I'm perfectly honest, I'd rather see anyone but Manchester City win the league again. So it's not a huge shame if we lose, and that's terrible saying that. Have a great evening, man. Yeah, exactly. Brentford after that. I think, you know, that's one of the games that we need to be getting three points in. And then Chelsea away on the end of the season. I don't know. Yeah, they're in a pretty good vein of form. They've picked up recently. They're doing a lot better, but I would like to think that we'll give them a game, and hopefully with a few players back, we might be picking up some points there, because we have at Stamford Bridge previously in the Premier League on a number of occasions. So I think, yeah, it's a good way to end the season. One thing I'm really pleased about this season is that we don't seem to be on the beach. Last season under O'Neill, our last four games, some of which were winnable, we were awful. We were really pedestrian. We didn't seem interested. Now I think there's a mentality shift. And, you know, we want to play. We want to give teams games. We want to break records. And I know that these records are small compared to other clubs, but for us, it's huge to be finishing the top half. It'd be a massive statement. So I think Andoni Ariel has got them motivated to, you know, push on higher. And, you know, these players are playing for their positions as well. He's a manager that will tend to reward the players that are doing well and will happily drop the players that aren't performing. Yeah, exactly. So really interested to see how it goes, but we'll be competitive in all the games, which is probably what we weren't last season. But I'm hoping for a return of four points, whether one of those points will come at Arsenal, not so sure. I mean, I want to ask you, I got two more questions for you. I want to ask you your player of the year, but you can't say Solanke because I feel obviously I'm not a Bournemouth fan. It's kind of easy to go towards Solanke. So if Solanke wasn't a factor, who would you give your player of the year to? Interesting, because we've been asked by the BBC to provide our top four players for their end of season vote. And we're struggling to do that at the moment. There are two players that are in the mix, Dom Solanke, Ryan Christie. And after that, it's a mixture of Ilya Zubani, our Ukrainian centre-back, who's on Football Manager, by the way, he's right up there. Yeah, he's become great. Yeah, he's a wonder kid. Also, Adam Smith, Antoine Semenyo, Lewis Cook, even Justin Kluivert's name has been mentioned. I'm going to say Ryan Christie just because of his work rate. And he's very technical as well, really good, and just links up the play really well. He's the sort of natural link between our defence and attack. And if I was going to put a name on it, it would have to be Ryan Christie. I mean, it's nice to see. And you spoke about Football Manager, Ryan Christie was once one of those sort of players. I did want to touch on the left-back as well before I forget. Is it a left winger? Is it Kerekez? I can't pronounce his name, but he just scares me for some reason. Yeah, what can you tell us about him? He looks great technically, and I think he could trouble us. Yeah, again, you know, one of these lads that does well on Football Manager, like you say, left-back, marauding, Hungarian. He's like one of their highly heralded Hungarian players. I think Dominik Sobozlai for Liverpool is one of them, but he's like the next best Hungarian product. He's a tough tackler. Whether he'll be available or not, I don't think so, because he's still suspended, I think, for this game, which is slightly annoying. He got sent off at Wolves, which means he's got another game, I think, or maybe even another one after that to serve the suspension for. But he's a great player for us. He really likes to get forward, bombs on down the wing, overlaps, underlaps, never shies out of a challenge. Yeah, but he's one of these players that, sadly, I think will move on quite quick. I think we're in a position now, as Bournemouth like, because we're doing a bit better than what we usually would, and we're not necessarily flirting with relegation. I think that the problem for us is that players will probably see our club as a kind of stepping stone into the bigger teams, which is a shame. But that's just the natural position we're in, sadly, and I don't think we'll have him for too long. But so far, I think he's been relatively good for us, but there is more to come from him. It's just a shame his sending off happened when it happened, because he was just hitting a real rich vein of form. And I mean, I guess with everything being said, my last question for you would then be prediction. Cheers for that. Cheers for that. I think Arsenal are going to win it. I think Arsenal are going to win it. Sadly, I would love to do this kind of head and heart thing, but head, heart is saying an Arsenal win, sadly. I think we'll be competitive in it, though. I don't think it's going to be as dramatic as last season, but I think we'll score. I'm going to go for 3-1 Arsenal, sadly. I'm going to go 2-1 Arsenal, Bournemouth, to take the lead. I know what you said in that you don't think it'll be like last year, but I just feel our games are filled with drama. I know when you think of Arsenal, Bournemouth, we'll think of many people for years to come. We'll look at the game last year, but there's been a couple of times, and I know we're not playing away, we've gone to your place and it's just been goals galore kind of thing. Last season was one of the best times for me, and maybe even this year if I can remember rightly, in that we're just taking care of business. You lot are always prepared to put a spanner in the work. So for me, I'm going to go 2-1 Bournemouth to take the lead and they'll buy it in a fair. Hopefully we get the three points and keep this title race going. Hopefully you do win, I hope you go and get Europe. It'd be lovely to see you lot finish ahead of some of our rivals in the same vein of Aston Villa. Let people know where they can find you and your podcast, Sam. Yeah, so we're called Back of the Net. It's on socials and on YouTube, just type in AFCB podcast. Last season, by the way, we did an away day review. We do an away day review for each and every of the 19 games we travel to, because we travel home and away. Arsenal did well, by the way, for noise. It was right up there, and just a little one to leave you with. We're not a big YouTube channel by any stretch of the imagination. We're the biggest cherries one, but when we played Arsenal, our numbers went through the roof. So we did an away day review for Arsenal, got like 53,000 views. We did one for Spurs, 3,000. North London is red, man. It is red. You're the real school club, man. There you go. The stats say it. I love that at the end, Sam, man. But as Sam said, you know where to find him. Again, if you lot are too lazy to try and find this platform yourself, then it'll be pinned to the messages on YouTube when it's premiered. It'll be in the description, and it'll be in the title. So yeah, give the guys some support. Sam, I appreciate you. You made the best team win, man. Let me let you get out of here. Thank you, man. Thank you, man.