Bournemouth reporter, Alex Smith: Counter-attacking Cherries enjoying positive season | OneFootball

Brentford will face a Bournemouth side who are dangerous on the counter-attack this weekend, explains Alex Smith, sports journalist at Bournemouth Daily Echo.

The Cherries are 10th in the Premier League ahead of Saturday's game at Gtech Community Stadium, having beaten Arsenal and Manchester City in recent weeks.

Bournemouth go into today’s game off the back of a great win against Manchester City. What have you made of what you’ve seen so far?

Ahead of the three games just gone, you would probably have said Bournemouth were roughly where they should have been. The loss at Leicester was disappointing but, in the games leading up to that, they picked up points where you would have expected them to, though possibly not always in the manner expected, with the Everton win a prime example of that.

In that one, they won after being pretty bad for 87 minutes. But those last three games - against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Man City - have really propelled Bournemouth upwards. There is certainly a lot of positivity at the moment and those three games have helped make it a very good start.

They are nicely placed at the moment, which would be a fantastic result come the end of the season.

Six points after 10 games last season, 15 points after 10 games this season. How much has the mood changed over the last 12 months?

This time last year, Andoni Iraola had not been in the job long. There was a bit of criticism when he replaced Gary O’Neil and people still questioned that decision after five to 10 games of last season, when he was trying to get things off the ground.

But they stuck with him and, after they picked up that first win around this time last year, they went on a bit of a run. The positivity built throughout the season and they ended up finishing with a record points haul.

This season, they picked up where they left off. Dominic Solanke’s exit left a big hole to fill, but Evanilson has been brilliant in the last couple of games and has two goals in his last two. From my perspective, he was a good signing and was already doing everything other than scoring until now.

They just look like a really positive side who play really good football - the mood is very positive around the club now.

Andoni Iraola comes across as someone who would never get too far ahead of himself but, based on what you’ve seen so far, do you think there is scope to finish in the top half, at least?

I think so. Iraola is always very quick to try and make sure people do not get too ahead of themselves. After the win against Man City last weekend, he said they would enjoy the win on Saturday but, from Sunday, their focus would switch straight to the Brentford game.

He is very much the type of manager who takes it one game at a time. The way he takes the game to any opposition, as we’ve seen over the last three games, does bode well for the season as a whole and I have said a couple of times that eighth to 12th is roughly where they will finish.

But, if things continue in this manner, that might get narrowed to eighth to 10th. Iraola was asked on Saturday where Bournemouth could go this season and he said that, until they have played every team once, they would not really know where they stand.

It will be like that all season, maybe until the last couple of games when they have a better idea of what they are fighting for. Hopefully, we will see a strong finish and I do think a top-half finish is a realistic proposition.

Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye on on Saturday?

Definitely Antoine Semenyo, who has been brilliant so far this season. His performance against Man City was excellent and he scored his fourth of the season in that game.

Besides him, Evanilson is looking more of a threat every week.

Someone who also does a lot of good work in this Cherries side is Lewis Cook. He runs that midfield and helps make them tick; though his influence is not always obvious, he will be key.

What should Brentford expect from Bournemouth in terms of shape and style?

Bournemouth play a high-pressure game. They will be looking to get on the front foot and press from the front. They tend to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Cook and Ryan Christie as those two midfielders.

The front four tends to change a bit: Luis Sinisterra and Dango Ouattara may return from injury this weekend, but Semenyo, Marcus Tavernier, Justin Kluivert and Evanilson started the win over Man City.

There is a lot of pace in that front four and they will try to win the ball in Brentford’s half and turn defence into attack very quickly. They are good on the counter-attack and will look to play with a "high rhythm", which is a phrase Iraola uses a lot!

What's your score prediction?

I think there will be goals and I am going to back a 3-1 win for Bournemouth.