After being involved in midweek European fixtures, Bournemouth and Sunderland will turn their focus back to domestic action when they lock horns in Sunday's Premier League encounter at the Vitality Stadium.

The Cherries are languishing in 18th place in the Premier League table, while the Black Cats are just a point better off in 17th position. 

Match preview

Bournemouth boss Marco Rose has experienced a tough start to life as a Premier League manager, with the Cherries one of three teams yet to win in the top flight after splitting their opening six matches evenly between draws and defeats.

In fact, they have lost their last two Premier League outings, a narrow 1-0 home loss against Liverpool and a heavy 5-1 defeat in last Saturday's clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, leaving them in the relegation zone ahead of Sunday's clash with Sunderland.

Fortunately for Rose, he has alleviated some of the pressure building on his shoulders with back-to-back wins at the start of Bournemouth's first-ever European campaign, which began with a 2-1 away victory over Real Sociedad last month.

The Cherries then produced a strong performance against Sturm Graz in their first Europa League home on Thursday evening, with Evanilson, Rayan and Alvaro Rodriguez all scoring in a 3-0 success at the Vitality Stadium, putting them in fifth place in the league phase. 

After becoming the first English team to win their first two matches in European competition in 21 years, Bournemouth will look to carry their Europa League form into Premier League action, as they look to avoid losing three consecutive top-flight matches for the first time since May 2024.

The Cherries should at least fancy their chances of troubling the scorers, having netted in each of their six Premier League meetings with the Black Cats (W2, D2, L2).

Like Bournemouth, Sunderland were also in Europa League action in midweek, although they experienced a much tougher outing against Portuguese Cup winners Torreense in Leiria.

Trailing at the break against the second-division side, the Black Cats levelled through Jules Ahoko with over 20 minutes to play, before Noah Sadiki thumped home a 93rd-minute winner to snatch all three points, making it back-to-back wins at the start of the league phase. 

The result also represented the club's first away win of the season, giving them a much-needed confidence boost ahead of their trip to the Vitality Stadium.

Regis Le Bris's side have lost each of their last three Premier League matches, including a 2-0 defeat against 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. 

Having conceded at least twice in each of those defeats, Sunderland will need to improve defensively if they are to have realistic hope of claiming their first league victory since beating Fulham at the end of August. 

The Black Cats could avoid defeat in three consecutive league games against Bournemouth for the first time in the two clubs' Premier League head-to-head history, after taking four points from their two meetings in the 2025-26 campaign. 

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Bournemouth form (all competitions):

Sunderland Premier League form:

Sunderland form (all competitions):

Team News

Rose has revealed that Alex Scott is progressing better than expected in his recovery from a knee injury, which means he should return earlier than the initial six to eight week timeframe.

However, Scott remains sidelined for Saturday's fixture, along with Veljko Milosavljevic, Julian Araujo and Eli Junior Kroupi. 

Amine Adli and Justin Kluivert could be given more minutes off the bench after returning from injury with substitute appearances against Sturm Graz.

Ben Gannon-Doak is pushing for his first Premier League start of the season, while James Hill, Adrien Truffert and Ryan Christie could return to the starting lineup. 

As for the visitors, they remain without defender Daniel Ballard and attacker Romaine Mundle due to hamstring and knee injuries respectively.

Right-back Thomas Meunier will miss a second straight game after being forced off in the first half against Brighton last weekend.

Wilson Isidor also sat out the midweek trip to Portugal, and the forward remains a doubt for Sunday's away game due to a minor injury. 

Isidor's fellow centre-forward Brian Brobbey is in contention to start after recovering from injury to make the bench for Thursday's Europa League win. 

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Silva, Truffert; Adams, Christie; Gannon-Doak, Rayan, Tavernier; Evanilson

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Roefs; Mukiele, Danso, Alderete, Reinildo; Xhaka, Sadiki; Hume, Le Fee, Angulo; Brobbey

We say: Bournemouth 2-2 Sunderland

Bournemouth and Sunderland are both getting used to the Thursday/Sunday schedule, and with league wins proving hard to come by, we think the two sides could play out a score draw at the Vitality Stadium, especially as two of the Cherries' three top-flight home matches have finished all square this term. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.