Eleven league games without a win, but most recently forcing league leaders Arsenal into a narrow 3-2 defeat, AFC Bournemouth go into their home game against Tottenham Hotspur at Vitality Stadium on Wednesday evening with this tension. It is the 21st matchday of the Premier League and both teams are stuck in the thick of the mid-table. Andoni Iraola’s side are in fifteenth place with 23 points, just one point ahead of Leeds, while Thomas Frank’s Spurs are thirteenth with 27 points, chasing Everton in the hope of finally finding some spark again. There is no deep rivalry, but recent encounters have been close, with Bournemouth winning the last two games, including a 1-0 win in north London in August. The hosts are weighed down by the situation surrounding Semenyo, who has already scored nine league goals and is linked with a possible move to Manchester City, while Tottenham are under increasing pressure due to the absence of key attackers such as Solanke and Kudus.
- Venue: Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth
- Date and time: January 7, 2026, 8:30 p.m.
- Competition: Premier League (Matchday 21)
Overall, the betting markets favor Bournemouth-oriented results and a game with goals, as they are only considered moderate favorites with odds of 2.1, despite Tottenham’s poor form, an injury-plagued attack, and the buzz surrounding Kudus and Solanke. A win for Bournemouth and the slightly more cautious option of Bournemouth or a draw, i.e. 1X, are based on Iraola’s team, which was even able to keep up with Arsenal at home, as well as Semenyo’s current form, while the hosts’ often high-scoring games make over 2.5 goals seem like an obvious outcome.
Bournemouth Form & Record Check
Bournemouth go into the clash with Tottenham on an 11-game winless run in the league, with three draws and two defeats in their last five games. The team is in 15th place in the table with 23 points, just one point ahead of Leeds and four behind Crystal Palace, which keeps them stuck in the dense lower middle of the table and pretty much reflects the image of a team fighting to stay up, not one with European ambitions. Their performances have been more chaotic than passive, with the 4-4 draw at Manchester United and the 2-2 draw at Chelsea showing that Bournemouth can hurt even big teams, but at the same time struggle to control games when space opens up. The 4-1 defeat at Brentford highlighted their defensive problems, and both the home draw against Burnley and the narrow 3-2 defeat to Arsenal meant further missed opportunities in what were actually important games. In their last five league games, the Cherries have always scored and always conceded, with at least two goals in each game, so Iraola’s team is anything but boring. It is noticeable that they pick up the pace after the break, but rarely control the first half. Semenyo’s nine league goals and the transfer buzz surrounding him, along with the performances of Kroupi, Jiménez, and Truffert, continue to pose a threat in attack, while the absences of Adams and Christie have significantly weakened the stability in midfield. The positive mid-season report, which highlighted the strong home record in particular, now reads differently, as recent setbacks at Vitality Stadium have increased the pressure, even if a data-driven supercomputer prediction of 15th place still seems realistic. Petrovic remains the clear number one in goal, with new signing Forster as backup, but it is less the personnel than the structure that is the focus as Bournemouth finally seeks the result that will end this long winless streak.
In my predicted line-up, Bournemouth remain in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Petrovic in goal and a back four of Jiménez, Hill, Senesi, and Truffert. Cook and Scott would stabilize the center, with Semenyo, Kluivert, and Tavernier playing behind Evanilson. It’s the now familiar structure under Iraola, with a focus on aggressive pressing from the front four and advancing fullbacks to stretch Tottenham wide. Adams, Christie, Milosavljevic, Gannon-Doak, and Dennis are out, reducing the depth in midfield and the options on the wings, which makes the axis of Cook and Scott and Tavernier on the left side all the more likely in this lineup. Semenyo remains the big unknown, still strongly linked with Manchester City, although Iraola has emphasized that the plan is to have him available for these two home games. Should he be absent, Adli or Brooks could move into this attacking trio, but it remains a plausible, not official, starting lineup.
Tottenham Form & Record Check
Tottenham travel to Bournemouth as a typical mid-table team, with the Spurs sitting in thirteenth place in the Premier League with 27 points and a narrow positive goal difference of 4. They are one point behind Everton and level on points with Crystal Palace, separated only by goal difference. Prediction models now see them finishing in tenth place, well off the European places, which is well below the original expectations of a Champions League participant. Their recent form in the league has been mixed, with a heavy defeat at Nottingham Forest and a home loss to Liverpool followed by a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace and a 0-0 draw on Thomas Frank’s return to Brentford. Those two away games suggested more resilience, but the 1-1 draw with Sunderland, in which Davies gave them the lead and Brobbey equalized late on, felt like a step backwards, with the whistles in the stadium speaking volumes. Tottenham have scored just three times in those five league games and have won only two league games since the beginning of November, so this is much more than a brief wobble. Every first half during this period has ended with fewer than two goals, and none of the second halves have been won. The team may be controlling the tempo, but they are struggling to find another gear when games open up. Injuries and absences have had a major impact, with Solanke out after ankle surgery, Kulusevski and Maddison missing for long periods, Bissouma and Sarr away with their national teams, and Kudus and Udogie recently struggling with fitness issues. This puts a lot of pressure on Davies and Spence on the left and puts even more responsibility on attackers like Richarlison, Tel, and Kolo Muani.
At Tottenham, I also expect the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Vicario in goal in front of a back four of Porro, Romero, van de Ven, and Davies. Palhinha and Bentancur should form the double six, with Kudus, Gray, and Odobert playing behind them in an attacking trio, and Richarlison leading the line. This predicted starting eleven reflects Thomas Frank’s recent structure and the mix of control and direct play he prefers. Injuries have a significant impact on this assessment, with Bissouma and Sarr away on international duty, Kulusevski, Maddison, and Dragusin unavailable, and Solanke still working his way back from ankle surgery, leaving the squad short on depth in attack. With Udogie out with a thigh injury, it seems likely that Davies will remain at left-back, while Kudus and Odobert will once again have to take on much of the creative responsibility around Richarlison.
Bournemouth – Tottenham Head-to-head & Statistics
The last five league matches between these two teams have been completely even, with both sides winning two and drawing one, but the momentum has changed several times. Tottenham won both encounters in 2023, 2-0 and 3-1, but Bournemouth has since responded with two wins and a draw, including a 1-0 away win in August 2025, which underlined the Cherries’ growing confidence in this fixture. Bournemouth’s development is also evident in the statistics: in the two games in 2023, they conceded a total of five goals, but in the following three games they conceded only two goals and kept clean sheets in both victories. Tottenham, on the other hand, failed to score in two of their last three encounters, a clear step back compared to their previous offensive performances. The early stages of each game have been consistently cautious, with all five games going into the break with a maximum of one goal, resulting in a series of five games with under 1.5 goals in the first half. It is interesting to note how much both teams feel each other out before taking more risks, with the games usually becoming more open after the break. Overall, Bournemouth scored in four of the five games, while Tottenham conceded goals in four games, so goals for the visitors have become a recurring pattern. Two of these duels ended with four goals, the other three with only one or two, so this matchup fluctuates between controlled, low-scoring games and much more open exchanges. Looking only at the games in London, Bournemouth’s progress away from home stands out. In 2023, Tottenham won 3-1, followed by a 2-2 draw in March 2025, before the Cherries returned with a 1-0 victory in August 2025, a sequence that points to growing confidence away from home, even if the overall record remains balanced.
