TipResumen

BOURNEMOUTH

Eddie Howe has overseen a remarkable run of success for Bournemouth and his side have shown some consistency with at least 42 points earned in each of their three seasons in the Premier League. Last season was still one in which Howe was expecting more from his players but Bournemouth have not made a lot of additions to the squad which has some suggesting they could be a surprise relegation candidate. One of the main reasons for those kind of predictions is the poor defensive record Bournemouth showed in the Premier League last season, but there is plenty of experience Eddie Howe can now call upon. Diego Rico and Jefferson Lerma are both arriving from Levante (the latter subject to a medical) and Bournemouth have held onto the majority of their key players which helped them to a 12th place finish in the League last season. Bournemouth will be looking for more from a home record which read 7-5-7 in the Premier League last season and doing so will likely mean a fifth consecutive year in the top flight at the end of this campaign. The Cherries had been in a poor run of form with a single win from 10 League games before beating Swansea City and Burnley to end the campaign, while they did win 2 of their last 4 at the Vitality Stadium. Nathan Ake should overcome a knock, but Junior Stanislas and Diego Rico are expected to miss out.



CARDIFF CITY

After finishing in the mid-table regions of the Championship in the 2016/17 season not many tipped up Cardiff City to do much better than that going into last season. However they did have promotion specialist Neil Warnock guiding the club and he pulled out another successful season by surprisingly guiding The Bluebirds back into the Premier League. It might be an even bigger challenge for Warnock to keep Cardiff City in the top flight especially if his past history is anything to go by. While promotions haven't been an issue for Warnock in his career, he has yet to guide a club to consecutive seasons in the top flight having failed with Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers and lasting just a few months with Crystal Palace who also dropped into the bottom three when he was sacked. Warnock has been well backed by the owner of Cardiff City and has managed to sign the likes of Josh Murphy and Bobby Reid for big money. Both may aid Cardiff City if they are relegated from the Premier League, especially as Warnock has been disappointed that he hasn't been able to bring in more reinforcements in this current transfer window. Cardiff City slipped up slightly as promotion came into view and that was shown by the club losing 3 of their last 7 League games, although they rallied enough to win 3 of their last 5 to hold off the Fulham challenge. The Bluebirds did win 11 away games in the Championship last season, but this is a step up for them and Cardiff City were beaten in 3 of their last 5 away games last season. Danny Ward is a doubt for this opening fixture of the season.



HEAD TO HEAD

Bournemouth and Cardiff City are meeting for the first time since the 2014/15 season when Bournemouth took 4 points from them on their way to promotion to the Premier League. Bournemouth's home win over Cardiff City that season ended a run of 1 win in 4 home games against this opponent during which time The Cherries had been beaten twice.



PREDICTION

I am not a big fan of Neil Warnock but I respect what he has managed to do in his career by guiding a number of clubs up to the Premier League. Warnock helped Cardiff City to a surprise promotion last season but he has been found out previously in the Premier League and this squad doesn't look like one that is equipped to survive in the top flight. In saying that Warnock will make Cardiff City tough to beat and this group of players will have an adrenaline rush following promotion which makes them dangerous early in the campaign. We saw that work for Huddersfield Town last season and a strong start to the season will give Cardiff City every chance of surviving, while Neil Warnock came close to keeping Sheffield United in the Premier League a decade ago. The opening weekend will give us some clue as to what to expect from Cardiff City when they visit a Bournemouth team who are looking for more consistency this season. Eddie Howe wasn't all that impressed with the way The Cherries ended the 2017/18 season and there hasn't been a host of arrivals at the club which has made Bournemouth a 'dark horse' pick for relegation. Personally I think Bournemouth are a little too good to go down as they have tended to beat the teams they should to keep their heads above water. 5 of their 7 home wins came against teams that finished below them in the Premier League table including beating all 3 teams that were eventually relegated, while the season before Bournemouth had 9 home wins and 7 against those that finished below them. Even in that season they beat 2 of the 3 relegated clubs and I think that will be the outcome of this fixture if the season predictions are correct. I do think Cardiff City will struggle and Bournemouth have tended to win fixtures like this one so I will back the home team to secure the three points here. Opening day can be a tough weekend to predict results as shown when Huddersfield Town crushed Crystal Palace 0-3 and Burnley won 2-3 at Stamford Bridge last season. Cardiff City have plenty of momentum having earned promotion back in May, but Bournemouth have enough goals to break them down here and I will look for Eddie Howe's men to get off to a positive start.