On Saturday August 18th Bournemouth travel to South Coast neighbours Portsmouth for the first match of the 2012/13 season. It has been a while since the two teams have been in the same league, and 4 years ago nobody would have prediction this meeting. But things have dramatically changed since then, and Bournemouth going into this match heavy favourites for a win.
With Pompey coming through a prolonged period of financial turmoil, they are as of now (6 days before) without a senior team member. It is highly possible that Bournemouth will be playing a scrambled together squad of youth teamers and emergency loanees, but Pompey will likely sign quite a few players before the match.
Over 2400 Bournemouth fans are expected to make the trip, which should make for a brilliant atmosphere. With all the expectation on Bournemouth, it will be interesting to see the starting lineup Paul Groves chooses for the first game of his first full season as the Cherries boss. I predict a 3-1 win to Bournemouth, with Pugh, MacDonald and Grabban scoring the goals.
Predicted starting lineup:
--Jalal--
--Francis--Addison--Cook--Daniels
--McDermott--MacDonald--O'Kane--Pugh
--Tubbs--Grabban
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