Ahead of a tough trip to Man City, Opta Analyst's David Segar looks at if AFC Bournemouth can continue their fine start and become genuine contenders.
Andoni Iraola didn’t win any of his first nine league games in charge of AFC Bournemouth (three draws, six losses). He finally secured a victory in his 10th match against Burnley, before seeing the Cherries thrashed 6-1 at Manchester City after that.
Two years later, the former Rayo Vallecano boss takes his Cherries team to the Etihad Stadium again, sat in second place in the Premier League and likely full of confidence that they can get a result.
Following that humbling at City back in Iraola’s debut campaign in England, Bournemouth showed a remarkable improvement, winning six of their next seven matches (one draw).
Despite their inauspicious beginning, they ultimately earned their highest points total in the Premier League in 2023/24 (48) as they finished 12th.
They then bettered that with a ninth-place finish last season, doing so with a club-record 56 points.
After an excellent start to 2025/26, Bournemouth only need another 37 points from their final 29 games to beat it again.
Iraola’s men have 18 points from nine games – their best ever start to a Premier League season – and head into Matchweek 10 with only leaders Arsenal ahead of them.
They are unbeaten since the opening day of the season, which was a spirited 4-2 loss at champions Liverpool before the Reds’ form fell off.
They have won five and drawn three since then, with this eight-game unbeaten run their second-best ever in the Premier League, behind only an 11-game run last season between November 2024 and February 2025 (seven wins, four draws).
It is also the longest ongoing unbeaten run of any current Premier League side.
Eyebrows were raised when Bournemouth chose to replace Gary O’Neil – who had done a relatively decent job in 2022/23 – with Iraola in the summer of 2023, but the Spaniard has unquestionably taken the Cherries to the next level.
Since giving Liverpool a scare at Anfield on the opening day, Bournemouth have beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham and Nottingham Forest at home, as well as Tottenham Hotspur away. They have also earned draws at home to Newcastle United, away to Leeds United and Crystal Palace.
Only Man City, Spurs and Chelsea (17 each) have scored more than their 16 goals, the same as leaders Arsenal.
Those goals are helping Bournemouth get into and stay in favourable positions.
They have spent the least time trailing in games in the Premier League this season (98 minutes and 13 seconds, including stoppage time), while only Man City (51 per cent) have been ahead for a greater percentage of their games in 2025/26 (48 per cent).
What makes them such tough opponents, though?
Most notably, Bournemouth have been the most active pressers in the Premier League for a while now.
Passes per defensive action (PPDA) is the number of opposition passes allowed outside of the pressing team’s own defensive third, divided by the number of defensive actions by the pressing team outside of their own defensive third.
A lower figure indicates a higher level of pressing intensity (defensive actions are fouls, tackles, interceptions, challenges, and blocked passes).
Bournemouth had the lowest PPDA in the Premier League last season (9.9), and after nine Matchdays, also have the lowest this season (9.8).
Fewest PPDA in the PL, 25/26
| Team | Matches | PPDA |
| Bournemouth | 9 | 9.8 |
|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 9 | 10.1 |
| Wolves | 9 | 10.4 |
| Chelsea | 9 | 10.5 |
| Liverpool | 9 | 10.6 |
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It isn’t much of a surprise therefore to see that they are effective when it comes to high turnovers – possessions that start in open play and begin 40 metres or less from the opponent’s goal.
Bournemouth made the second most in the Premier League last season (337) and had the most shot-ending high turnovers (68).
This season, they are second again for high turnovers (71) and fourth for shot-ending high turnovers (14), but that slight drop might be a result of teams trying something new to combat it.
As we pointed out in our recent article on why Liverpool are facing so many long passes against them this season, similar is true for Bournemouth.
Iraola’s men have seen 525 passes against them go long – at least 32 metres, excluding throw-ins, goalkeeper throws and crosses. Only Liverpool (571) have faced more, while no other Premier League side have faced even 500.
It is likely because both teams have been so proficient when it comes to pressing that opponents are launching passes long to avoid giving them a chance to win the ball in dangerous areas.
You have to say, though, Bournemouth have to this point coped better with that bombardment than Liverpool.
That could be because they fight fire with fire. As well as facing the second most, Bournemouth have attempted the joint-fourth-most long passes in the Premier League this season (492). Centre-back Marcos Senesi accounts for 128 of those, the most of any outfielder in the division by at least 39.
They also don’t waste time when they’re on the ball. Only four teams have a lower average passing sequence time than Bournemouth this season (8.6 seconds), while they have also made the most direct attacks (18) – open-play sequences that start just inside a team’s own half, have at least 50 per cent of movement towards the opposition’s goal and end in a shot or a touch in the opposition’s box.
Four of their direct attacks have ended with goals this season, which is level in first place with Brentford, while no other Premier League team have more than one.
Bournemouth have also scored more goals from fast breaks (five) in the Premier League this season than any other team.
That is not to say they are a very direct team.
In fact, as you can see from the graphic below, their style has been almost identical to Manchester United’s this season, and not far away from promoted pair Leeds and Sunderland.
They aren’t playing many passes per sequence (3.3, only five teams have fewer), but their direct speed upfield of 1.8 metres per second is about average for the league.
Antoine Semenyo has been a huge reason for Bournemouth’s impressive form. With six goals and three assists, he has at least three more goal involvements than everyone in the Premier League other than Erling Haaland (12) this season.
He also puts in a shift off the ball, having won possession in the final third nine times, the joint most in the Premier League along with Iliman Ndiaye and Bruno Guimaraes.
Semenyo is starting to get some help in front of goal too from teenager Junior Kroupi. Signed from sister club Lorient, Kroupi has taken to English football seamlessly, scoring four goals in six games.
The 19-year-old has scored in each of his last three Premier League appearances.
Should he find the net against Man City on Sunday, he will become just the fourth teenager to score in four or more consecutive games in the competition after Robbie Fowler (three times in 1994/95), Nicolas Anelka (twice in 1998/99) and Francis Jeffers (August/September 2000).
Kroupi’s stunning strike in last weekend’s 2-0 home win over Nottingham Forest was from distance, which is another area Bournemouth have thrived in.
They have scored more goals from outside the box than any other side in the Premier League this season (six).
Arguably the most impressive aspect of Bournemouth’s strong start to the season is the fact they lost so many defensive players over the summer.
Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s loan spell from Chelsea ended, while defenders Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi and Milos Kerkez were all sold for big money.
New signing Djordje Petrovic has been mostly solid in goal, making 27 saves in the Premier League – only four goalkeepers have made more – while Bafode Diakite has ably partnered Senesi at the heart of defence after arriving from Lille.
Another signing from France was left-back Adrien Truffert, who has made both the most overlapping (30) and underlapping (14) runs in the Premier League this season, and much is expected of young centre-back Veljko Milosavljevic, who has already made three league appearances.
The Breakdown: How Bournemouth sold their best players and got better
Arguably their biggest test since their opening-day loss to Liverpool comes on Sunday when they travel to Man City. Bournemouth have lost just three of their last 17 away Premier League games (seven wins, seven draws), but one of those defeats did come in this exact fixture back in May (3-1) in their penultimate game of 2024/25.
In that contest, City restricted Bournemouth to just five shots, the joint fewest for the Cherries in a game under Iraola. Both other instances also came against Man City.
They have a torrid record against City, having lost 15 of their 16 Premier League meetings with them, with the only exception being a 2-1 win at the Vitality Stadium last season. They have lost all nine previous games at the Etihad Stadium.
However, they go into the game two points ahead of Guardiola’s men, with the hosts still smarting from their 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa last weekend.
If ever there were a time for Bournemouth to finally win at the Etihad, this feels like it’s it.
It has been a tremendous start to the campaign for Iraola’s side, but win on Sunday, and perhaps people will finally have to take them seriously as a threat at the top of the Premier League.
But even if they are beaten by City yet again, all the signs seem to be that the future is bright at the Vitality Stadium, and we’re very much in the process of seeing the Cherries blossom.
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