Bournemouth’s dominant 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday means that after nine games Andoni Iraola’s are second in the Premier League. But can they stay the course?
On Bournemouth’s position, Iraola said after the game: “We’re not there by luck – it’s not been given to us. We’ve worked hard and got the results we wanted. We can enjoy this moment now, but we need to keep working hard to end up where we want to at the end of the season.”
They’ve played just three of their nine games against sides in the top half of the table, which suggests this might be something of a false position, as does their xPts tally of 14.31, which has them seventh.
There’s also been dramatic swings in form during Iraola’s time in charge, with a period of excellence making way for a dire run of defeats, typically at the point at which the Spaniard is being most heavily linked with whichever Big Six club happens to be in biggest crisis at the time. Liverpool, anyone?
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Last season, for example, after an unbeaten run of seven wins and four draws between November and February left them in seventh, one point behind Manchester City in fourth and poised for a Champions League qualification battle, five defeats in seven put paid to those hopes as they finished the season ninth, ten points off those crucial top five places.
Their tally of 18 points (P9 W5 D3 L1) after nine league matches is their most ever at this stage of a top-flight season, surpassing the 17 points they picked up in 2018/19 under Eddie Howe (P9 W5 D2 L2), when they were sixth and fell away dramatically to finish 14th with just 45 points.
But Iraola and the Bournemouth fans will be hoping their current second-placed position in the table provides a more accurate forecast for this season, as we’ve gone through the last ten Premier League campaign to see which team was second at this stage in proceedings and where they ended up.
And although their 18 points is the lowest of any team occupying second place in the last ten seasons, it’s time for the Cherries to get giddy on the basis of Arsenal being the only team to have finished outside the Champions League spots after being second after nine games. On three occasions sides went on to win the title.
Check out the F365 tables, where you can generate tables on specific dates, as we’ve done here, look at tables between dates, first-half tables and plenty besides.
2024/2025: Liverpool – 22 points
Premier League finish: Champions – 84 points
2023/2024: Manchester City – 21 points
Premier League finish: Champions – 91 points
2022/2023: Manchester City – 23 points
Premier League finish: Champions – 89 points
2021/2022: Liverpool – 21 points
Premier League finish: 2nd – 92 points
2020/2021: Liverpool – 20 points
Premier League finish: 3rd – 69 points
2019/2020: Manchester City – 19 points
Premier League finish: 2nd – 81 points
2018/2019: Liverpool – 23 points
Premier League finish: 2nd – 97 points
2017/2018: Manchester United – 20 points
Premier League finish: 2nd – 81 points
2016/2017: Arsenal – 20 points
Premier League finish: 5th – 75 points
2015/2016: Arsenal – 19 points
Premier League finish: 2nd – 71 points