Bournemouth continue their search for a sorely-needed win in the Premier League as they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the South Coast.
Bournemouth currently sit 19th in the Premier League with three draws and five losses from their first eight games of the season.
One of only two winless sides remaining in the Premier League, it's been a rough start to life in England for manager Andoni Iraola who likely didn't envision his side to be without a win and with the second worst goal difference in the league coming out of the second international break.
It must be stressed that Bournemouth have a tough opening two months of the season in terms of fixture difficulty so it's important to refrain from overdosing on doomerism when talking about their chances but their most recent result, a 3-0 hammering away at Everton, was one that will really have set off the alarm bells amongst the upper portion of the club's hierarchy.
Bournemouth entered the game preparing to face another of the league's expected strugglers in Everton, who were coming off a loss to newly promoted Luton Town, but the Cherries were resoundingly put to the sword in a one-sided defeat.
Losses agains the Arsenals and the Liverpools of the league can be excused and ultimately rarely impact the eventual standing of a club like Bournemouth but the manner in which they were beaten at Everton was indicative of a side primed for a long struggle at the bottom of the league.
While things are looking bad it's worth noting that it's still early days in the tenure of Spaniard Iraola and given how heavily courted he was around Europe during the summer you can't help but feel there's more to come from him.
His side have now lost three games on the bounce and if Bournemouth needed to beat Everton last weekend then they really need to beat Wolves this weekend or discontent towards Iraola from the fanbase could become palpable.
Wolverhampton Wanderers currently sit 8th in the Premier League with two wins, two draws and four losses from their first eight games of the season.
Wolves have been a fairly pleasant surprise so far as they find themselves in a relatively comfortable position in the table despite being tipped heavily to struggle coming into the campaign following a turbulent summer off the field.
Manager Julen Lopetegui relieved himself of his duties during preseason due to a of lack of funds made available to him in the transfer market and even after the sale of Matheus Nunes new manager Gary O'Neil was heavily restricted in terms of significant, first-team ready incomings.
With a largely similar squad to last season, O'Neil is doing a pretty impressive job at Molineux so far as they come into this game unbeaten in their last three league games having beaten Manchester City in that period.
Their most recent outing saw them claim a valuable point against Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw which saw a Hwang Hee-chan goal cancelled out by Pau Torres in what was an even encounter.
Things could very much still go wrong for Wolves this season but most would argue they've shown plenty enough in the early months of the season to suggest that survival is more than a realistic goal.
O'Neil has got a now fit Pedro Neto back to his best form with the Portuguese man looking like one of the best outlets in the league right now and if the likes of Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha can become reliable goalscorers then Wolves feel likely to stay up.
Given how Bournemouth have struggled this season O'Neil's men will expect themselves to avoid defeat at the very least in this one and will more than likely be confident of claiming three points.
For our Bournemouth vs. Wolves prediction, we're going for a 1-1 draw.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.
