Bournemouth have not lost a Premier League match since 3 January, when Arsenal beat them 3-2. They took 18 league games unbeaten to the end of the season, and the run started the week they sold Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City. On Sunday afternoon they begin the new season at the Etihad Stadium.
Semenyo scored 17 league goals across the two clubs in this fixture last season, having moved to City in January. Bournemouth finished sixth on 57 points, with 18 draws, more than any other club managed, and seven defeats, fewer than fourth-placed Aston Villa. It was enough for the first European campaign in the club's history, in the Europa League. "We are not going to Europe just to enjoy, we want to be competitive," Marco Rose has said of it. "We are not there just to watch."
Rose is the reason Sunday is a beginning rather than a continuation. Andoni Iraola left at the end of his contract and is now at Liverpool; Rose, out of work since leaving RB Leipzig in March 2025, signed a three-year deal in April to take his first Premier League job. He inherits a squad that has, unusually for Bournemouth, held on to its best players: Alex Scott, Rayan and Eli Junior Kroupi all stayed.
Kroupi is the complication. His 13 league goals made him Bournemouth's leading scorer last season, and a freak injury in a pre-season drill means he is not expected back until November. Araujo (thigh) is out for the same stretch, Adli (calf) until September and Milosavljevic (knee) has no return date; Brooks and Soler are short of match fitness and Christie serves the last of a three-match suspension. Antonio Silva arrived from Benfica for £25.7m to replace Marcos Senesi, with Alvaro Rodriguez coming from Elche and Juanlu Sanchez from Sevilla.