Cherries up for the challenge in southern battle with Brighton
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola believes his side’s clash with Brighton will be a “demanding game”.
The south-coast rivals meet in the Premier League today, where the Cherries sit one place and one point above the Seagulls in the table.
Bournemouth will also be hoping to capitalise on Brighton’s current run of form after Roberto De Zerbi’s side went five games without a win on Thursday night following defeat by Manchester City.
Last time the sides met Brighton emerged 3-1 victors thanks to Kaoru Mitoma’s double and Iraola insists this afternoon will be a “good challenge” for his side.
“It’s a little bit like the game we had against Wolves, we are kind of close in the standings now every game – especially the ones you play against teams that are around you – it becomes even more important,” he said.
“It’s true they still have one more game to play, but I think it’s a good challenge for us to try to beat them, to fight for the position against them but we have to show it on Sunday.
“I think it’s going to be a demanding game, I think they will also change some players because they have very good players and probably they will change the team a little bit and we have to be ready for this.”
Iraola will be without the suspended Milos Kerkez for the match after the defender was shown a straight red card in the midweek victory against Wolves on Wednesday.
Bournemouth are also aiming to close in on a record points tally for the club with four games remaining.
A win against Brighton could see them surpass a best of 46 points gained in the 2016-17 season, where they finished ninth, and Iraola knows it will not be an easy task.
“It is the first chance we have now that we can beat it on Sunday, but we have to win for this,” Iraola said.
“It’s not going to be easy. We are one point to tie it and we need two to go ahead.
“So we’ll try to do it on Sunday, because we know that in the same way as Sunday, then we’ll have Arsenal away, difficult games we have.
“So we have to do it in one of the difficult ones.”