Tottenham Hotspur face Bournemouth this weekend in a game between two teams with differing fortunes this season.
Indeed, most seasons, you’d expect Spurs to be the team pushing for a place in the Champions League and Bournemouth battling in the bottom-half.
However, this year, the roles have been reversed as it’s Andoni Iraola’s side who are pushing for Europe while Tottenham toil in mid-table.
Tottenham have had consistency issues, and, in turn, Ange Postecoglou is under pressure.
In fact, Andoni Iraola has been linked to Tottenham should Postecoglou be sacked, but, this weekend, Iraola will be hoping to get the better of Spurs.
Writing in his column for the BBC, Chris Sutton has been previewing this weekend’s game between the two sides, and he’s shared his prediction for this match.
Chris Sutton predicts Bournemouth vs Tottenham
Sutton shared his verdict on how this game will go.
The pundit says that he’s expecting goals in this match, predicting a 2-2 draw between these two teams.
“There has been talk about Tottenham wanting Andoni Iraola as their next manager if they sack Ange Postecoglou. His stock is very high at the moment, but the Bournemouth boss will just be focused on trying to secure a top-five finish,” Sutton wrote.
“Spurs’ season is really all about how they do in the Europa League now rather than their league position.
“They do have some of their big-hitters like Dominic Solanke, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero coming back from injury, but the question is how match-sharp will they be, and also how much Thursday’s tie with AZ Alkmaar will take out of them.
“Bournemouth have already beaten Spurs once this season, winning 1-0 on the south coast in December.
“The Cherries play forward quickly and I am expecting them to cause Spurs more problems this time. There will definitely be goals in this, but I reckon Tottenham will score a couple too.”
Tottenham recent record vs Bournemouth
Tottenham, historically, are a much bigger, and, with all due respect, better, team than Bournemouth.
However, the tables have turned this season, and the recent record between these two sides is actually quite close.
Indeed, these two teams have been evenly matched in recent years, with the last five games between these two sides being quite evenly split.
| Tottenham’s last five games vs Bournemouth | |
|---|---|
| 3 | |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 2 |
Tottenham have won more often than not against Bournemouth in recent times, but even in victory against the Cherries they’ve had some close calls.
Back in 2022, Spurs had to score a 97th minute winner courtesy of Rodrigo Bentancur to win 3-2 after going 2-0 down early on against the south-coast club.
These games between Spurs and Bournemouth are often very close, and Sutton may not be too far wrong when predicting a draw here.
