Pitting his wits against the man who replaced him on the South Coast, Gary O'Neil reunites with former club Bournemouth when his Wolverhampton Wanderers side welcome the Cherries to Molineux for Saturday's Premier League clash.
The hosts are seeking a third win on the spin after decimating Fulham 4-1 in gameweek 12, while Andoni Iraola's crop were sunk 2-1 by 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.
Match preview
© Imago
The Bournemouth board may have felt that their decision to give O'Neil the boot - highly controversial at the time - was even more vindicated when the now-Wolves boss oversaw a disastrous start to the Old Gold's 2024-25 Premier League campaign, in which they claimed just one win from their first six.
However, as is the case in the animal kingdom, Wolves bit back hard and are now revelling in a four-game unbeaten sequence in the top division, prevailing in each of their last two against relegation rivals Southampton and a hitherto high-flying Fulham.
Alex Iwobi may have drawn first blood for the Cottagers last weekend, but a brace from the magical Matheus Cunha, Joao Gomes's second of the season and an injury-time effort from forgotten man Goncalo Guedes completed an extraordinary turnaround for O'Neil's team.
With eight points taken from their last 12 on offer, Wolves have risen above the dreaded dotted line into 17th place in the Premier League standings, above Ipswich Town thanks to a superior goal difference; their 20 goals scored in 2024-25 is the second-most outside the top six.
Breaching opposing nets was never the issue for Saturday's hosts, who have now scored in 13 straight matches in all competitions and are out to register for the 10th home game running, although there are no rewards for guessing the last team to shut them out at Molineux.
© Imago
Indeed, both of Wolves' last two home matches with Bournemouth have ended in 1-0 losses, but they came away from the Vitality Stadium with a 2-1 triumph to their name in October 2023, coincidentally the same scoreline that Iraola's men lost their last home game by.
Joao Pedro struck one of his own inside the opening four minutes before appropriately teeing up Kaoru Mitoma four minutes after the restart, and Carlos Baleba's dismissal for two bookable offences did not trigger a Cherries comeback; they only had an injury-time David Brooks consolation to show for their efforts.
As Wolves rejoice in two straight wins, Bournemouth head north wounded from back-to-back defeats to Brighton and Brentford, dissatisfactory results that have plunged them down to an unlucky 13th place in the Premier League rankings.
Similarly to upcoming foes Wolves, the visitors' commitment to attacking remains alive and well - Brooks's late strike means that they have scored in five straight matches - but they are on a four-game winless run away from home in the Premier League and have not kept a clean sheet in any road match since April's last Molineux success.
That shut-out for Iraola's men continued a particular theme in matches between Wolves and Bournemouth, as all four of their Premier League games at Molineux have been won to nil; there is yet to be a top-flight game on the hosts' turf in which both teams have scored.
Team News
© Imago
Wolves put Fulham to the sword in West London despite missing no fewer than 10 players through injury or illness, including long-term absentees Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Enso Gonzalez (knee), Yerson Mosquera (knee), Boubacar Traore (knee) and Bastien Meupiyou (fitness).
Craig Dawson and Sam Johnstone were both struck down with illness before the Craven Cottage trip, which Pablo Sarabia (calf), Santiago Bueno (groin) and Pedro Lima (ankle) also missed, but all of them bar Lima are set to come back for the weekend.
O'Neil could therefore be facing the best kind of selection dilemmas for Saturday's game, but he may stick to just the one alteration depending on fitness; Dawson's expected return should see Rayan Ait-Nouri revert to a wing-back role and Rodrigo Gomes drop out.
As for Bournemouth, it is one in and one out on the suspension front, as Ryan Christie is available again after a yellow card ban but Antoine Semenyo must now sit on the naughty step for accumulating five yellow cards.
Brooks has more than made his case to step in for the much-coveted Semenyo, although Dango Ouattara and the returning Christie will have something to say about that; the latter could be a straight swap for Semenyo if Iraola opts to shift Justin Kluivert out wide.
Julian Araujo (thigh), Alex Scott (knee) and Luis Sinisterra (hamstring) make up the visitors' injured trio, but the latter might be able to make his competitive return early next month.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Lemina, Toti, Dawson; Semedo, Andre, J. Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Bellegarde, Cunha; Larsen
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Kepa; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Adams, Cook; Kluivert, Christie, Tavernier; Evanilson
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Bournemouth
Wolves in the Premier League almost always means goals at both ends of the pitch, and while the hosts coped just fine in an injury crisis last weekend, Semenyo's absence for Bournemouth is a devastating blow.
Iraola's forward-thinking troops can still break down a permeable Wolves defence, but O'Neil's men have been clinical in the final third all season long and have received two massive shots in the arm in the last two gameweeks, so the hosts have our vote to extend their winning sequence.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
