Saturday, Mar. 910 a.m. ETPeacock
Bournemouth Odds-285Sheffield United Odds+655Draw+410Over / Under2.5 -175o / +135uOdds via bet365. Get up-to-the-minute Soccer odds here.
Bournemouth will look for its first back-to-back league wins of 2024 when it hosts a battered and bruised Sheffield United on Saturday.
After a winter lull that saw the Cherries go winless in seven league games, Andoni Iraola’s squad finally broke the drought with a 2-0 win last Sunday at Burnley. The next day, the Blades suffered yet another hiding in front of their home fans, a 6-0 defeat to Arsenal that was over as a competition by the 16th minute.
Bournemouth won the previous meeting 3-1 at Bramall Lane back in late November. Let's take a look at how this one will play out in our Bournemouth vs. Sheffield United prediction and pick.
BournemouthAlthough the Cherries’ seven-game league winless run was a definitive dropoff from the seven-match unbeaten league run that preceded it, Bournemouth didn’t play all that poorly during it.
It drew three of those seven games, and three of its four defeats came at the hand of clubs in the top five in the table. The only real blemish — if you want to call it that — was a 3-1 loss to a Fulham side that has been far better at Craven Cottage this season than on its travels.
But those middling results have coincided with a cooling-off period for striker Dominic Solanke. He still leads Bournemouth with 14 league goals, but has found the net only once in his last five games. The good news for Cherries fans on that front is it’s not been for a lack of goalmouth action; Solanke's shooting and xG numbers are roughly the same as they were when he was pouring them in.
Saturday’s match will be the second of six consecutive league fixtures against teams beneath Bournemouth in the table. That includes two meetings against Luton — the latter the resumption of a match that was suspended last fall when Luton’s Tom Lockyer suffered an on-field cardiac arrest.
Sheffield UnitedIt’s starting to feel like the increasingly frustrated atmosphere at Bramall Lane has been working to the Blades’ detriment.
Chris Wilder’s men have conceded an astounding 21 goals in their last four home fixtures and haven’t scored in the last three. And while they’ve only rarely taken points as an away side, the results have at least been closer, including their 1-0 defeat at Wolves two weekends ago.
But that habit of keeping things close as an away side hasn’t resulted in any more points, even when playing teams on the lower end of the table that you might think were in reach for the Blades. Their 3-1 win at Luton in mid-February was the only time the Blades managed to earn any points when visiting a team in the bottom half. Their two away draws came at Aston Villa and Brighton.
Ben Brereton Díaz has missed the last month with a hamstring injury after scoring twice in his first four Premier League games following a mid-season loan from Villareal. He is expected to be available Saturday, though Wilder's pregame remarks Friday didn't directly address his potential role.
Bournemouth vs Sheffield UnitedPrediction
The odd part of this one is that there’s already enough data on the Blades giving up five or more goals that we can see how they have responded.
This will be the seventh time in all competitions. None of the previous six such performances have come in the very next game, and twice the Blades actually earned league wins. Opponents only won two of those matches by multiple goals — and one of those opponents was league-leaders Liverpool.
Bournmouth’s home schedule so far has been oddly skewed toward teams higher in the table to date, which partly explains why its away form is better than its home results. But their four home matches against teams in the table’s lower half suggest the Cherries find it a little more difficult in the role of favorite — with two wins and two draws, and only one of those wins coming by multiple goals.
So the value here — so much as there is one — is probably playing the Blades +1.5 goals at -114 odds.
The argument you’d make against it is that three of those Blades blowouts have come in the last month, and confidence may be at an absolute low. It’s a fair point, but so is the fact that all but one of those six five-plus goal defeats have come at home, where the environment has turned toxic more quickly.
Pick: Sheffield United +1.5 goals (-114 via Bet365)