Managerless Bournemouth will look to cause an FA Cup upset at Turf Moor against Burnley

Caretaker Jonathan Woodgate will take his Bournemouth side to Turf Moor on Tuesday hoping to put on a good audition for his employers as he seeks the job on a permanent basis.

The Cherries are without a permanent manager after Jason Tindall was sacked following their disappointing home loss to Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday with his side lying sixth in the table.

There are high expectations at the Vitality Stadium with a real emphasis on a first time return to the Premier League, particularly with the financial benefits in the midst of a global pandemic.

Morale is high following a 3-2 win against Birmingham in Woodgate’s first game in charge and they will eye up this one as a chance to make a run at an outside chance of silverware this campaign.

Top scorer Dominic Solanke will be missing for this one as he continues to recover from an injury that also kept him out of the victory against the Blues. However, Junior Stanislas is available for selection after he was benched in the match against Birmingham.

New signing Ben Pearson could start in this one although their other new signing Shane Long will be cup tied as Woodgate looks to field a consistent team after a vital victory.

“We’ll be going there with a strong team wanting to win the game,” Woodgate said.

For the hosts, Sean Dyche fielded a strong side in the Clarets’ last FA Cup outing in a convincing 3-0 away victory to Fulham at Craven Cottage. He is expected to do the same in this one as he sees this as an opportunity for Burnley to challenge for a trophy.

Matej Vydra was very impressive in their 1-1 draw with Brighton, a game that they should have won quite comfortably and this will be seen as a good chance for the Czech forward to get off the mark this season.

Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson is their main outlet as they look to stretch the width of the game and they will see their aerial presence as a key asset to outmatch Bournemouth in the forward areas.

The visitors will look to Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld to showcase his talents after a goal and assist saw him look like the best player on the park against Birmingham. Jack Wilshere will pull the strings in midfield and they will look to the energy of the likes of Jefferson Lerma to press Burnley high and force them into errors.

Differing styles are quite evident here with the well-organised, direct nature of Burnley’s play contrasting the aggressive, energetic style of Bournemouth, albeit the visitors have failed to show their best in this regard for most of the season.

Both sides are coming into this one at the right time after both putting in encouraging performances after a shaky period and with that in mind, the expectation is to see a game played on a positive footing.

You cannot pick between the two in terms of the high regard they have for this competition for different reasons. Dyche has always taken the FA Cup seriously as a chance at silverware as his side will rarely see in normal domestic competition due to their Premier League standing.

Whereas, Woodgate will see this as a big match for his personal ambitions. Having only joined the Cherries a week ago as assistant manager, he has quickly been placed back into the top job following his time at Middlesbrough.

The caretaker manager looked to play an entertaining brand of football on Teeside, however, such a large scale switch of approach from Tony Pulis was always going to have to be a couple of season investment, but after such a poor run and just a 24% win rate, the button ultimately had to be pushed before relegation became a real possibility.

Having said that, he is said to be keen to take on another project and has a relentless nature to make a success of the managerial world. This will be a big test of what he has to offer with the board looking to make an external appointment as it stands.

A home win should be seen as the logical conclusion if they are to play a strong side as expected, however, there is no doubt that Bournemouth will be waiting in the wings to capitalise if Burnley are not on top form.

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