Newcastle United vs Bournemouth
Life without Antoine Semenyo officially begins on Tyneside this weekend and, without stating the obvious, it can only go one of two ways.
The smart money says Bournemouth will be much poorer without the Ghana international who, only this week, manager Andoni Iraola admitted is “almost impossible to replace”.
After all, this is the player who has been the Cherries’ top performer this term, with 10 goals and three assists in the top flight.
Yet there is also a strong argument for suggesting it may be time to cut ties and invest the reported £65 million Manchester City are reportedly prepared to pay for his services.
That’s because, until his fitting swansong on Wednesday night when he scored a truly wonderful last-gasp winner to bid a dream farewell, it had been 11 games and more than two months since Bournemouth had last won in the league, suggesting their early season form could not be maintained and/or that the constant speculation linking Semenyo with a lucrative move away was having an impact on the dressing room.
At Newcastle this weekend in the third round of the biggest cup competition of them all, the FA Cup, we may be about to find out.
Talking Points
Moments after scoring the dramatic winner, Semenyo was substituted and absorbed the standing ovation from the Bournemouth fans as he slowly walked back to the dugout.
After the final whistle, he then acknowledged the applause rolling down from the stands as he bid goodbye to the club he joined three years ago.
Assuming he does move on within the next 48 hours, Bournemouth will begin their quest for FA Cup 2026 highlights without him but could well be in an upbeat mood.
Some of that confidence should be because of another exciting talent in their ranks in the shape of Eli Junior Kroupi, whose season tally of seven goals makes him the joint-most prolific teenager – alongside Lamine Yamal – across Europe’s top five leagues.
Despite selling key men last summer (and now Semenyo), Bournemouth have barely looked back since the appointment of Iraola in 2023, shortly after escaping the drop.
While Bournemouth were enjoying their own late moment of glory in midweek, their opponents this Saturday were tasting even later joy.
Quite how their encounter with Leeds went on so long was a mystery to me and could only be put down to the injury sustained by home defender Fabian Schar.
Initially, the Geordies equalised in the first minute of stoppage time before Harvey Barnes struck his second of the game to seal a 4-3 win – in the 102nd minute.
After the latest winner on record in Premier League history, they will also go into the cup tie in good spirits and, after struggling to juggle the schedule with domestic and European commitments , they are now up to sixth with three straight wins following their Boxing Day reverse at Old Trafford.
Events in midweek tell us this may well be a tie watching until the last seconds!
History
These teams had never met competitively until the League Cup in 1963.
Then Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, as they were known, emerged 2-1 winners.
By the time they next met a decade on, the Cherries were known as plain old Bournemouth and the Geordies won the third round tie with the legendary Malcolm Macdonald a scorer in a 2-0 win.
Believe it or not, their inaugural league meeting did not happen until 1989.
That was the former Division Two and a contest Bournemouth won 2-1 – Mick Quinn scored for Newcastle.
Their very first meeting in the top flight came in 2015 when Ayoze Perez scored the only goal of the game at the Vitality Stadium.
This will be the second meeting between the clubs this term as they played out a goalless draw on the south coast in the league in September.
Last season, it was also a draw as Anthony Gordon cancelled out Marcus Tavernier’s opener in a 1-1 draw.
Bournemouth turned on the style on their most recent visit to Tyneside though, a 4-1 win in January when Justin Kluivert netted a hat-trick and Milos Kerkez was on target (two of the goals coming in stoppage time).
Bruno Guimaraes had briefly drawn the hosts level.
Four of the last matches between the sides have ended all square.
Overall, both teams have seven victories with a further eight draws.
Betting Tip
Our FA Cup 2026 betting odds make the Geordies big favourites.
They are priced 1X2 @ 1.69 and Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 1.93.
The Cherries, by contrast, are on offer 1X2 @ 3.83 and Asian Handicap +0.50 @ 2.14.
A repeat of the goalless draw from earlier this term will pay out @ 15.00 with Correct Score.
For goals in this one, you can get odds @ 2.05 for Over 3.00, Total Goal 0-1 @ 3.88, 2-3 @ 2.05 or will you opt for 4-6 @ 2.79.
I actually think Bournemouth could edge it, especially with the home side having one eye on their defence of the League Cup and the first leg of their semi-final against Manchester City to follow just three days later.
As a result, my *** tip is Half Time Full Time Draw Away @ 9.60.
If you go for it and it comes off, it will be worth your time!
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT)
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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