Bournemouthvs.Bristol City

The hosts are continuing to prepare for their return to the Premier League on August 6, whilst the visitors will travel to Hull City for their season opener in the Championship on July 30.

Match preview

Bournemouth concluded their warm weather training camp in Portugal with a late defeat to hosts Braga on Tuesday.

Dominic Solanke made it two goals in two during pre-season, but a goal in either half from the Primeira Liga side condemned the Cherries to a first defeat of the summer.

Scott Parker's side had previously got their summer preparations off to a winning start after defeating League One outfit Sheffield Wednesday last Friday, but the boss will be hopeful that his side can return to winning ways on Saturday afternoon.

With the opening two friendlies largely being a test of fitness for the Cherries, the next two will see Parker expecting more quality on display from his players, as they continue to take fresh tactical ideas on board ahead of a fight for survival this season.

The penultimate test of pre-season sees Bristol City visit the south coast on Saturday, before Bournemouth play host to a strong La Liga outfit in the form of Real Sociedad on July 30.

Meanwhile, Nigel Pearson's Bristol City visit the Vitality Stadium for their sixth and final test of the summer at the weekend.

The visitors arrive into the contest on the back of an unbeaten pre-season so far, having recorded three wins and two draws from their five outings ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, all of which have been competed against League One opposition.

Forest Green Rovers and Exeter City were the latest opponents, who both featured at the Robins' sun-drenched training ground on Tuesday.

The latter held Pearson's men to a 2-2 draw, but the Robins were fortunate to earn a result after finding themselves two goals down midway through the second half, before a late brace from 19-year-old Tommy Conway spared their blushes.

Earlier in the day, an entirely different squad defeated newly-promoted Forest Green 3-1, thanks to goals from Chris Martin, Andreas Weimann and Mark Sykes.

The former Leicester City boss will be looking for much of the same against tougher opposition on Saturday, as he looks for his players to stake a claim for a starting place in their opening Championship game of the season at Hull a week later.

Bournemouth pre-season form:

Bristol City pre-season form:

Team News

Bournemouth are expected to heavily rotate their starting 11 again on Saturday, after making numerous changes between their two pre-season tests so far.

Captain Lloyd Kelly was unexpectedly absent for the defeat to Braga, raising question marks over the defender's availability here.

Young defender James Hill may well deputise alongside Chris Mepham once again, but the only other absentee as things stand is David Brooks, who continues his recovery from cancer.

As for the visitors, they will assess the fitness and availability of Duncan Idehen and Han-Noah Massengo ahead of Saturday's trip down south.

The former was replaced just 20 minutes in to Tuesday's draw with Exeter due to illness, whilst the latter was also substituted off in the first half due to a dead leg.

Two different lineups were named for the double-header in midweek, but Pearson must settle on just the one for Bristol City here ahead of next week's Championship opener.

Alex Scott is unlikely to start just yet after only playing the second half of the Exeter contest in midweek - his first minutes of pre-season due to being afford an extended summer break following his success with the England Under-19s earlier in the summer.

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Travers; Smith, Mepham, Hill, Zemura; Billing, Cook, Rothwell; Lowe, Solanke, Anthony

Bristol City possible starting lineup:

Bentley; Naismith, Atkinson, Vyner; Wilson, King, James, Dasilva; Sykes; Martin, Weimann

We say: Bournemouth 2-2 Bristol City

With the visitors ahead of their hosts in terms of fitness during their summer preparations, we can see them coming away with a result here despite the gap in quality.

City have enjoyed a strong summer so far and they will look to round it off in style, so goals should be expected in an entertaining affair that ultimately, we predict will finish level.

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