ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PREVIEW - CRYSTAL PALACE VS BOURNEMOUTH

English Premier

2025-10-18 - Crystal Palace vs Bournemouth

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Crystal Palace v Bournemouth
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 18th October 2025 - Kick Off 3pm

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Crystal Palace

There will have been a huge amount of disappointment, and plenty of regret, after a wasteful display at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium ended with Crystal Palace's long unbeaten record coming to an end. Oliver Glasner will be just reminding his squad of all they have achieved when they return from the international break, but the manager will also be demanding they get up and go again immediately.

Despite the harsh 2-1 loss at Everton, Crystal Palace are 6th in the Premier League table and only 4 points behind leaders Arsenal. Fans will be getting a taste of UEFA competition in the Conference League, but no one will yet be talking about a potential challenge to earn a place in the Champions League next season. For all the positives around this club, Oliver Glasner will be looking for his team to improve the 1-2-0 record at Selhurst Park.

Crystal Palace had been unbeaten in 19 games in all competitions and only a fortunate injury time goal ended that run two weeks ago. They had won 3 in a row in all competitions ahead of that defeat on Merseyside, while Crystal Palace scored an injury time goal of their own in beating Liverpool 2-1 in the last Premier League fixture played at home.

Chadi Riad could be a part of the squad this weekend, but Cheick Doucoure looks to be a couple of weeks away.

Bournemouth

Losing almost the entire backline from last season has not prevented Andoni Iraola from keeping his Bournemouth squad moving in a positive direction. The expectation was they would make a slow start at the very least with new players needing to be integrated into the starting eleven, but Bournemouth have been far more impressive than that.

Three late goals were scored in a come from behind victory over Fulham and other results over the last Premier League weekend have allowed Bournemouth to move into 4th place and 2 points behind leaders Arsenal. The Cherries will be looking to improve the 1-1-1 away record in the top flight where they have scored 5 goals and conceded 6.

Bournemouth fell behind to Fulham in the 70th minute and looked on course for a third consecutive Premier League game without a victory, but they turned that around in a 3-1 win at a windy Vitality Stadium. The side have bounced back from the 4-2 loss at Anfield on the opening weekend to beat Tottenham Hotspur in North London, although Bournemouth were fortunate to score an equaliser deep into injury time at Elland Road last month.

Adam Smith should be involved, while long-term injury absentee Enes Unal is not going to be rushed back.

Head to Head

There were only sixteen goalless draws in the Premier League last season, but 12% of those involved fixtures played between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.

Crystal Palace have now failed to score in 4 matches in a row against Bournemouth.

The Eagles had beaten Bournemouth 3 times in a row at Selhurst Park, but have since lost 0-2 in December 2023 before the goalless draw in April.

Prediction

Two teams who had successful 2024/25 seasons have not allowed the pre-season to break down any momentum that has been generated behind the scenes and both managers deserve a lot of credit for that.

Losing an entire backline has not prevented Bournemouth from sitting in 4th place in the Premier League table coming out of the international break.

And losing Eberechi Eze late in the summer transfer window a year after Michael Olise also departed has not stopped Crystal Palace from having extended their unbeaten record to 19 games in all competitions before a harsh defeat at Everton two weeks ago.

Some managers would make excuses, but Oliver Glasner and Andoni Iraola have only enhanced growing reputations.

It has led to both being linked as potential replacements for mangers sitting in roles at the biggest clubs in the world, but these are two men who are only focused on the present. The players clearly enjoy playing for them and this is going to be a fascinating fixture on Saturday afternoon.

Amazingly, Bournemouth will move to the top of the table for a couple of hours at the very least if they can win at Selhurst Park.

Late goals have certainly helped in keeping the points ticking over and there is a real confidence within this squad that makes them tough. Even when not at their best, Bournemouth have found a way to produce a positive result and they can pose problems for Crystal Palace.

Bournemouth have not conceded a goal against Crystal Palace in each of the last 4 meetings and that will give any team a chance to win games. They will be looking to contain the attacking threats again, but this is a Crystal Palace team who have found a really good balance in the football being played and they have been creating big moments throughout the season.

Oliver Glasner's team will take encouragement from the Leeds United performance against Bournemouth last month and Crystal Palace may be ready to snap the poor recent run against this opponent.

Even without Eze, Crystal Palace have created huge opportunities in the final third and they may have enough firepower to edge past a tough opponent. A single goal could be enough considering how well both teams have been defending to open the season, but that is an area where Crystal Palace have impressed slightly more and that narrow superiority could see the home team come away with a vital three points.

The Pick :

Crystal Palace 1-0 Bournemouth

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Crystal Palace - 0.25 Asian Handicap at 1.93 with Bet365