English
Español
Sunderland make the long journey to the south coast vying for their first league double over Bournemouth since 1990. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before Saturday's match (12:30 GMT).
In-form Cherries aim to extend unbeaten run
Bournemouth have been one of the Premier League's streakiest sides this season. They ended October second in the table after losing just one of their first nine league fixtures but plummeted down the standings following an 11-match winless sequence.
However, despite selling star man Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in January, the Cherries are staging a formidable third act. Andoni Iraola's team are one of the top flight's form sides right now and have avoided defeat in each of their past seven league games – only Manchester United are currently on a longer unbeaten run.
Victory on Saturday would take them seventh, for a few hours at least, and boost their hopes of qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history. An achievement of that scale would underline why Iraola is one of the game's most in-demand managers.
Yet after last weekend's goalless draw at West Ham, Iraola was looking down the table rather than up, stressing that his priority is getting 40 points on the board to secure safety.
He was also disappointed with his side's uncharacteristically passive first-half display at London Stadium, complaining his players didn't win enough duels and "were not being aggressive on the ball".
Sunderland on the slide
A run of three consecutive league defeats has seen Sunderland overtaken by Bournemouth, with the Black Cats also dropping out of the top half of the table.
The newly promoted club have been this season's surprise package and with 36 points on the board have probably already done enough to achieve their key objective – staying up.
The Wearsiders were hard to beat in the first half of the campaign but have not maintained that stubborn streak since the turn of the year, losing five Premier League fixtures in 2026 – one more than in 2025.
However, head coach Regis le Bris insists perspective is required. "In the Premier League, it's not unusual for us and for every team in the league – you can be in the top six and you can have a long sequence of poor results," he said following last weekend's defeat.
"We are now in this part of the journey – resilience, togetherness, consistency and standards are always the same values we need and we won't give up."
