Bournemouth vs Brentford Prediction & Lineups: Fouls and Free Kick picks tonight

Bournemouth host Brentford on the south coast in this evening's Premier League fixture, which kicks-off shortly at 5.30pm on Sky Sports Main Event.

The Cherries have hit a rocky patch but still remain in the hunt for a spot in Europe next season, while Brentford are chasing down a top-10 finish.

With little to choose between the teams, Oli Nixon has set his sights on betting tips from the fouls and free-kick markets.

The Cherries are having a stellar season that sees them just three points outside the top six and in the FA Cup quarter final to boot, however, having taken just five points from their last four Premier League games, they’ll be looking to get back to winning ways.

Brentford meanwhile arrive on the South Coast having won their last four in a row on their travels, three of those without conceding. Despite not having the glamour appeal of other games to be chosen for TV, the reverse fixture was an entertaining game with five goals and so this could be an intriguing watch.

Having had success with this angle in a Brentford game last weekend against the Premier League’s most fouled side, we’re going again at a similar line against a Bournemouth team who average far fewer free kicks.

Brentford games on the road this season have seen their opponents average just 10.8 free kicks. This is largely down to their approach of standing off when their opponents have the ball rather than diving in, something that can also be seen by their average of just 16.5 tackles per game, the sixth lowest in the division. In 13 away games in the Premier League, this bet would have landed in nine and in the last meeting they gave away just eight free kicks.

Bournemouth themselves average just 11.08 free kicks in Premier League games at the Vitality Stadium and have had less than 13 in nine of their 13 games as hosts. Across the five meetings between these teams in the top division, Bournemouth have never had over 12 free kicks and have had totals of eight or less in four of those and so this feels a line that is much too high.

With Bet365 introducing their own version of ‘super-sub’ this week for most player props markets, it feels rude not to take advantage. This means that if either player in this betbuilder is taken off, our bet will carry over to their replacement and so we are guaranteed to have a live bet for the whole game.

Tyler Adams is averaging 2.1 fouls per 90 this season and has made at least one foul in eight of his last nine starts in all competitions. He’s also been responsible for more of the defensive work in the middle of the park recently as Lewis Cook has been needed at right back and so he’s even more likely to make a foul. In the previous meeting between these sides, Bournemouth’s central midfielders made seven infringements between them and so Adams feels a lock for at least one.

Bees centre back Nathan Collins has also been consistently drawing the attention of the officials in recent games, committing eight fouls in his last six Premier League starts, with at least one in every match. Across the season, he’s averaged 0.71 fouls per 90 and he also landed one in the reverse fixture. He’ll be marking Evanilson who has drawn 2.15 fouls per 90 this season and so like Adams, the Irishman is going to do well to avoid making at least one foul.

Bournemouth vs Brentford Lineups

The starting lineups for Bournemouth vs Brentford are now available to view in the graphic below.