With their heads above water heading into the final five Premier League games of the season, Bournemouth and Leeds United will both endeavour to pull further away from the relegation zone in Sunday's showdown at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries ran out 1-0 winners in their midweek basement battle with Southampton, while the Whites were pegged back in a 1-1 draw with Leicester City last time out.
Match preview
When it rains it pours for Southampton, and in appropriately torrid conditions at St Mary's on Thursday night, the Saints slipped ever closer to Championship football for the 2023-24 campaign as Gary O'Neil's men came up trumps in the South-coast contest.
With 50 minutes on the clock, Marcus Tavernier cut inside and let fly with a tame effort which found its way into the far corner, but Bournemouth survived a heart-in-mouth moment just a couple of minutes from time when a Che Adams strike was ruled out for a marginal offside.
Having made the short journey home with all three points in the bag, Bournemouth are sitting pretty in 14th place and seven points clear of the drop zone with just five games left to play, but O'Neil made it clear that the Cherries are not out of the woods yet while also expressing relief at a VAR decision finally going his side's way.
Victory at St Mary's remarkably represents a third Premier League away win on the bounce for the Cherries following previous successes at Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, but few Bournemouth fans will need reminding of last weekend's 4-0 Vitality thrashing at the hands of West Ham United - a second successive home defeat without scoring for O'Neil's side.
With Chelsea and Manchester United still to come before the curtain closes on the campaign, Bournemouth would do well to avoid a third successive home defeat for just the third time in their Premier League history, boosting their survival hopes while denting their visitors' in the process.
The Elland Road faithful particularly enjoyed seeing James Maddison enjoy a fruitless start to Tuesday's contest with Leicester, but the Foxes' creator-in-chief ultimately had the last laugh, as Javi Gracia's side failed to hang on to a slender lead in a low-scoring stalemate.
Causing Leicester all sorts of problems on the right flank, Jack Harrison whipped a cross to the back post for Luis Sinisterra to open the scoring in the first half, but a lightning-fast Leicester counter attack ended with Maddison laying off Jamie Vardy for the latter's first Premier League goal since October.
A frenetic end to the game saw Vardy have another goal ruled out for offside before Patrick Bamford produced one of the misses of the season from a yard out, as Leeds ended a three-game losing run in the top flight to entrench themselves in 16th place, still just one point better off than Leicester in the relegation zone.
Sunday's game arguably represents the Whites' most winnable fixture between now and the end of the campaign - Manchester City, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur are all lying in wait - but the travelling fans will not be encouraged by a record of four defeats from their last five on the road, and they have just one clean sheet to their name away from home all season.
On a more cheery note, Gracia's side make the long journey south having scored in each of their last eight Premier League fixtures, and Bournemouth have only ever won one of their 14 competitive showdowns with Leeds, who were indebted to Crysencio Summerville's dramatic late winner in a 4-3 Elland Road thriller back in November.
Team News
Pleasure soon turned to pain for Bournemouth match-winner Tavernier, who was withdrawn late on against Southampton with an apparent hamstring issue, although O'Neil is hopeful that the winger has not sustained another serious problem.
The Cherries are already planning for the weekend without Hamed Traore (ankle), Junior Stanislas and Ryan Fredericks (calf), but Jack Stephens is eligible again after being unable to face his parent club in midweek, while Matias Vina and Marcos Senesi came down with cramp at St Mary's.
With Sunday's game surely coming too soon for Tavernier to shake off his problem, Adam Smith and Dango Ouattara should go head-to-head for a start on the right, but O'Neil should otherwise see no reason to disrupt the harmony, unless jellied legs force his hand.
Prior to Bournemouth's goalscorer suffering an injury on Thursday, the same story coincidentally befell Leeds attacker Sinisterra, who stayed down after a challenge from Caglar Soyuncu and was withdrawn just 12 minutes after breaking the deadlock.
The Whites have now learned the devastating news that the Colombian will miss the rest of the season with that ankle problem, joining a trio of thigh victims in Tyler Adams, Stuart Dallas and Maximilian Wober on the treatment table.
Wilfried Gnonto was controversially overlooked again by Gracia on Tuesday as Summerville came on to replace the stricken Sinisterra, and the Italian protege will be expected to watch the start of this match from the dugout once more.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Mepham, Kelly, Senesi; Ouattara, Lerma, Rothwell, Vina; Christie, Billing; Solanke
Leeds United possible starting lineup:
Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Firpo; McKennie, Roca; Harrison, Rodrigo, Summerville; Bamford
We say: Bournemouth 1-1 Leeds United
Fresh injury concerns over their midweek goalscorers is not what the doctor ordered for either side, but Leeds demonstrated a greater sense of defensive resilience on Tuesday and will be working with an extra two days' worth of rest compared to their fatigued hosts.
With both sides wary of making fatal errors at this stage of the season, there should be no repeat of November's seven-goal spectacular, but Bournemouth should right the wrongs of their last two home performances to glean a potentially priceless point in their survival bid - leaving Leeds at risk of being dragged back into the bottom three.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
