Alex Smith, Bournemouth reporter: Iraola’s side finding form at the right time | OneFootball

Bournemouth’s 4-1 defeat to Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium just over two months ago served as a wake-up call, reveals reporter Alex Smith, with Andoni Iraola admitting the performance shocked his side into an improved run of form.

Since that afternoon in west London, the Cherries have lost just once in ten Premier League games, with the Bees heading to Vitality Stadium on Tuesday night (7.30pm kick-off GMT), live on TNT Sports.

It’s just over two months since the last meeting between Brentford and Bournemouth, which the Bees won 4-1 after a Kevin Schade hat-trick. How would you summarise how things have gone since then?

That game was a bit of a turning point and something of a wake-up call. Iraola has said as much, that the result shocked them into turning their form around. That 4-1 was a really poor defeat for Bournemouth and, especially in the first half, the Cherries were just not on it at all. They were deservedly beaten.

That really gave them the kick they needed to turn their form around and, since that game, they have only lost one league game, and that was to Arsenal, the league leaders.

They drew away at Chelsea after the clash at Gtech Community Stadium and then suffered that Arsenal defeat but, since then, they have been unbeaten and are looking more like the team they were at the start of the season.

To what extent would you say that turnaround has sparked hope of a potential push for Europe?

Last season, the 11-game unbeaten run they went on started in November and ran into January, so, into the new year, Bournemouth were very much in and among the European places, which certainly got people’s hopes up that they could carry it through.

They dropped off a little bit and ended up finishing in the top 10, with a record points haul, but missed out on Europe.

This season, it has been slightly different in that they were on such an awful run coming into the new year and, because they have turned it around since January, there is almost slightly less external attention on it, which I think has perhaps helped them. There was so much media attention around this time last year, with talk of even reaching the Champions League.

The fact that the table is so very close as well helps with that narrative too, because the reality of it at the moment is you can win two games and be seventh or lose two games and drop down to 13th or 14th.

Do you think what happens over the next few months could potentially tempt Andoni Iraola to stay beyond the summer, when his contract expires?

None of us in the press pack knows exactly what he is going to do.

He tells us he has not made up his mind yet, and we all fully believe him because he is used to the one-year rolling contracts, where they complete a season and sit down in the summer and decide whether to renew or not.

He is genuinely really relaxed about it, but I do think the next couple of weeks could be important. January was vital and they brought in a couple of really young, exciting players in Rayan and Alex Tóth. It was a young squad already, but it is a very young squad overall and a really exciting squad, and I think that is a factor that plays in Bournemouth’s favour.

They will be hoping to tie Iraola down and I do imagine we will get a decision before long either way - but your guess is as good as mine as to when that will be!

Which player should Brentford be keeping an eye out for on Tuesday night?

Rayan has hit the ground running since he arrived from Brazil. He is a 19-year-old forward who has two goals and an assist in his first five games, which is pretty good going.

He looks very exciting and was not far away from an absolutely brilliant goal at West Ham, when he hit the post having run from midway inside the Cherries’ half.

Junior Kroupi as well. He looked a bit out of it and did not have his best game in the last game against Brentford, but if he finds a bit of form, he could be one to look out for as well.

What should Keith Andrews’ men expect in terms of shape and style?

Iraola tends to use the same sort of shape every time: it is a 4-2-3-1, with a slightly deeper midfielder that looks like it potentially might be Tyler Adams alongside Alex Scott, who has been brilliant in the No.8 role.

The frontline of Evanilson, Junior Kroupi - who has been playing in the No.10 role, as a second striker - and then two out-and-out wingers look to press energetically from the front, and Evanilson leads that.

They look to win the ball high up the pitch, then hit teams in transition, and thrive off a bit of chaos around the opposition box.

What’s your score prediction?

Bournemouth’s record against Brentford is not great!

It is one of those games you look at and think, on paper, it should be a good one and they should be looking to get something from it - but it never seems to go that way.

But I am going to back Bournemouth to end their poor record against Brentford and win 2-1.