Bournemouth continue their preparations for the 2025-26 Premier League campaign as they take on Bristol City in a friendly at the Canford Magna Training Ground on Saturday. The Robins are in action for the first time since their playoff semi-final heartbreak against Sheffield United and will be looking to kick off their pre-season as they mean to go on.
Bournemouth kicked off their pre-season schedule on Tuesday when they picked up a 2-1 victory over Scottish outfit Hibernian at the AFC Bournemouth Performance Centre.
Phillip Billing and Evanilson found the back of the net to put the Cherries two goals up heading into half time before Kieron Bowie pulled one back for Hibernian in the 55th minute.
Bournemouth will head into the new season looking to build on their solid 2024-25 campaign, when they finished ninth in the Premier League table, nine points off the Conference League qualifying spot.
Bristol City, meanwhile, picked up 68 points from their 46 Championship matches to finish sixth in the table, just two points above seventh-placed Blackburn Rovers outside the playoff places.
However, Gerhard Struber’s men were quickly sent packing from the playoffs as they suffered a disappointing 6-0 aggregate defeat against Sheffield United in the semi-finals.
Bristol City now go up against Bournemouth for the first time since July 2022, when they picked up a 1-0 victory in a similar friendly fixture.
Bournemouth vs Bristol City Head-To-Head and Key Numbers
- With 38 wins from the last 91 meetings between the sides, Bristol City hold the upper hand in the history of this fixture.
- Bournemouth have picked up 30 wins in that time, while the spoils have been shared on 28 occasions.
- Bristol City are on a run of five consecutive games without a win, losing four and claiming one draw while conceding 15 goals and scoring three in that time.
- Bournemouth are unbeaten in five of their most recent six away matches across all competitions, picking up two wins and three draws since the start of March.
- Bristol City have won just one of their 16 games on the road since November 7 while losing eight and claiming eight draws in that time.
Bournemouth vs Bristol City Prediction
The full-time result is somewhat unimportant here as both sides look to get their fitness up in preparation for the new campaign.
While Bristol City will aim to quickly shake off their disappointing end to the 2024-25 season, we fancy Bournemouth coming out on top at the Canford Magna Training Ground.
Prediction: Bournemouth 2-1 Bristol City
Bournemouth vs Bristol City Betting Tips
Tip 1: Result - Bournemouth to win
Tip 2: Over 2.5 goals - Yes (There have been three or more goals scored in Bristol’s last six matches)
Tip 3: Over 10.5 corners - No (There have also been fewer than 11 corner kicks in nine of the Robins' last 10 outings)