English Premier
2025-10-26 - Bournemouth vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 26th October 2025 - Kick Off 2pm
This game is live on TV
Bournemouth
A late Penalty meant Bournemouth had to settle for a point at Selhurst Park last weekend and that might have been a little frustrating considering they had led 0-2 and 2-3 on the day. The 'glass half full' type will still be feeling very confident as Bournemouth have kept the Premier League points ticking over and expectations are growing around this part of the South Coast of England.
Results last weekend have left Bournemouth in 4th place in the Premier League table and they are 4 points behind leaders Arsenal, which is clearly a positive for Andoni Iraola, the players and the supporters. The Cherries are back home this weekend where they have a 3-1-0 record in the top flight having scored 6 goals and conceded 2 in those matches.
Bournemouth have been Knocked Out of the League Cup in the Second Round back in August, but they have not suffered a Premier League defeat since the opening weekend at Anfield. That League Cup defeat was at the Vitality Stadium, but Bournemouth are unbeaten in 5 Premier League games here going back to last season and they have won 4 of those fixtures.
Evanilson is a doubt for this game, while David Brooks is hoping to be back in the squad next week.
Nottingham Forest
Just eighteen minutes after the full time whistle was blown on another poor day in the office for Ange Postecoglou and his Nottingham Forest team, a statement was released saying the Club had parted ways with the Australian. Days later Sean Dyche was officially appointed as manager and Nottingham Forest have begun by snapping the miserable run of defeats and beaten Porto in the Europa League.
The demands at the club means Sean Dyche will have to take that competition seriously as another route into the Champions League, but the manager will also be keen to help Nottingham Forest move away from the relegation zone in the Premier League as soon as possible. The Tricky Trees go into the weekend in 18th place in the Division, while they have a 0-2-2 away record where Nottingham Forest have found the back of the net just twice.
Nottingham Forest played 8 matches under Ange Postecoglou and failed to win any, but the most damaging stat was the 6 defeats, including the last 4 in a row. Things had to change and Sean Dyche will be looking to get Nottingham Forest back to basics if the first game under the new manager was anything to draw conclusions from. Nottingham Forest did draw away games at Burnley and Real Betis under Postecoglou, but were also beaten comfortably at Arsenal and Newcastle United.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Chris Wood are doubts for this trip to the South Coast.
Head to Head
Bournemouth took four points from Nottingham Forest last season and the majority were earned from a thumping 5-0 victory over them at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries are unbeaten in 5 at home against Nottingham Forest, but had been held to draws in consecutive matches before that win in January 2025.
Prediction
A new manager usually will help with a 'bounce' in form, but it never really happened for Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest and it is very difficult to imagine him managing in the Premier League again.
39 days might not be enough time to implement a plan, but the team were not going anywhere under Postecoglou's guidance and an impatient owner was never going to let that poor run to continue much longer.
Sean Dyche has come in and already overseen a victory, something that Postecoglou was unable to produce, and he is likely going to set Nottingham Forest up in a similar manner to Nuno Espirito Santo. That means having a solid base and looking to use the pace on the counter to start picking up points and Nottingham Forest are better than what they have shown over the last six weeks.
This is a very tough opening Premier League fixture for Sean Dyche.
Bournemouth have been attacking with real freedom and the positive results continue to be churned out, even when injuries look like they could hold them back. Andoni Iraola's reputation is being improved all of the time and the manager will be confident in his team.
They have been really good at the Vitality Stadium- Bournemouth have been pretty solid defensively in the main, while the attacking threat has opened up opportunities.
The 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest earlier this calendar year will also give Bournemouth confidence, but they have to expect the visitors to dig in and try and make things difficult.
The Cherries do look short at odds on to win this game, even if they are deserving favourites, and instead it may be better to look for the 'back to basic' approach expected from the away team to help this game finish with fewer than three goals shared out. Prior to the 5-0 win in January, the 4 previous games between these teams on the South Coast had all ended with two or fewer goals shared out and both managers have to be confident that their defensive shapes can come out on top.
Sean Dyche took Everton to the Vitality Stadium twice and the games finished 2-1 and 1-0 to Bournemouth. However, the first game was at 1-0 until the 87th minute and the expectation is that the new Nottingham Forest manager will want to make this a tough, battling kind of fixture and that could lead to chances being restricted at both ends of the pitch.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Bournemouth 1-0 Nottingham Forest
