Since this article was published, this game has been called off due to a coronavirus outbreak. A new date for the game will be confirmed in due course.
Two sides at opposite ends of the table meet as league leaders Bournemouth welcome 22nd-placed Peterborough United to the Vitality Stadium on Monday evening.
The hosts have bounced back from a blip with two back-to-back victories during the Christmas period, whilst the visitors have not played a game for over two weeks.
Match preview
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Bournemouth's blip amounted to a run of six matches without a win, not long after the club had put together nine wins in the space of 10 games through September and October.
Scott Parker will be hoping that his side's two wins in the space of 72 hours will prove to be the start of a similar run, and if they can pick up where they left off in a dominant showing against Cardiff City then the signs looks good.
The Cherries followed up Monday's 1-0 away win at Queens Park Rangers with a 3-0 home victory, courtesy of goals from Ryan Christie and Dominic Solanke, with an 83rd-minute Alex Smithies own goal cementing the result.
Whilst that saw them open out a four-point gap at the top, Parker and his team will be aware that second-placed Fulham have two games in hand and thus that a victory here will be important to increase the gap and put pressure on the Cottagers to catch up when they have the chance.
It should be a very winnable match considering the ongoing struggles of their upcoming opposition.
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Peterborough's defeat away at Blackpool back on December 18 made it six losses in their last nine games.
Siriki Dembele's opener will have given hope of unlikely back-to-back wins, after their 2-1 triumph over Millwall, but Keshi Anderson equalised soon after and two goals in the final five minutes saw the Posh fans experience that familiar sinking feeling once again.
They have then been unable to at least attempt to make amends over the Christmas period due to the postponement of games and now sit 22nd in the table.
Worryingly for Darren Ferguson, four of his side's five wins this season have come in the comfort of their own home, with Monday's trip south likely to end in disappointment on the road once again.
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Team News
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Bournemouth have one new injury with Junior Stanislas being forced off the pitch in the closing stages of the game against Cardiff.
Adam Smith will be out with a knee injury for a few weeks and David Brooks is a long-term absence.
Darren Ferguson is starting to settle on his preferred rotation of players and may name an unchanged starting XI after the long wait since their last game.
Dan Butler and Jack Marriott are the away side's only confirmed absentees for Monday's game, although Christy Pym departed for Stevenage earlier in the week after falling out with the manager.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Travers; Stacey, Cahill, Kelly, Zemura; L. Cook, Lerma, Billing; Christie, Solanke, Anthony
Peterborough United possible starting lineup:
Cornell; Thompson, Knight, Edwards, Tomlinson; Norburn, Grant, Burrows; Taylor; Dembele, Clarke-Harris
We say: Bournemouth 2-0 Peterborough United
This should be a straightforward win for the home side considering their position at the top of the table and their opponents' away form. We are backing a comfortable two-goal margin by the final whistle.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bournemouth win with a probability of 79.13%. A draw had a probability of 13.9% and a win for Peterborough United had a probability of 6.94%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bournemouth win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.49%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.53%) and 1-0 (10.52%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.62%), while for a Peterborough United win it was 0-1 (2.58%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood.
