Everton at Bournemouth: Q&A with Tales from the South End

Everton will travel to Bournemouth this weekend to take on the Cherries. Ahead of the match we asked a few questions of our friends over at Tales from the South End.

RBM: AFC Bouremouth have been on a bit of a slide recently before taking a point away at Swansea last week. What are your feelings on the club picking up enough points to remain in the Premier League next year?

TFTSE: We haven't played particularly badly in any games this season (apart from Norwich away), but we have struggled to score goals. As cliched as it is to say, you have to take your chances when you get them. With Callum Wilson in the team, this always looked likely to happen. Without him in the team chances are being created but he's a hard man to replace and no-one has stepped up to takeover yet. I expect us to look for another striker in the January transfer window and they will hopefully start adding goals to the performances and get enough points. I think we will remain in the league simply because I think there are 3 worse teams than AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. I won't mention them, but the table gives you a good indication.

RBM: Before the campaign, Bournemouth's leadership announced that they would not be expanding their stadium after they stated their plans to do so months earlier. How did the fan base react to the decision?

TFTSE: People were moaning, but I'm not sure who these people were. Most likely, the occasional fan, probably those who wanted to come and watch their favourite Premier League team one or twice in the season. Frankly, I don't care. In reality it was a good decision. First the club didn't have the time to complete the necessary work and second we don't have a huge fan base. If we do stay in the Premier League, then it would make sense to expand the stadium. But, we would only need to add another three or four thousand and that would do. Maybe ten years down the line and we are still in the Premier League then it might be worth looking at getting a new stadium to accommodateall those Champions League fans :-)

RBM: What is the Bournemouth's fans view of Everton? Are the Blues seen as contenders or just a mid-table squad where points can be wrestled from?

TFTSE: I would rate Everton as one of the best teams in the league. They are a team to be admired. They don't have the huge budget of some of the other top clubs and play an exciting brand of football (most of the time). I would think that a top six finish is easily achievable for Everton this season, as long as you can keep your best players (and lets hope you do).

RBM: No factors (money, league, position depth, etc.) being an issue, is there a particular Everton player that you would like to see suit up for the Cherries?

TFTSE: There's more than one, but one player I would love to see in our team on matchday would be John Stones. With him in the team would be being up a few more points without a doubt. If you could throw in Coleman, Deulofeu, 
Lukaku and Naismith that would be much appreciated.

RBM: What is your prediction for the match?

TFTSE: Even though we have been playing reasonable well we struggle to score and when we do we struggle to keep a lead. We are due a bit of luck from the ref, so if we get a few key decisions that go our way we might well sneak an unlikely win. On an even playing field I think Everton have too much for us and will get the three points. Not so sure on the score. I think I will go with 2-1.

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