Bournemouth vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

A place in the FA Cup quarter-finals is up for grabs as Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers lock horns at the Vitality Stadium.

The early stages of the 2024/25 FA Cup have been plain sailing for Bournemouth as they built on a 5-1 rout of second-tier West Brom with a routine 2-0 win at Everton. Seeking their first-ever trophy in football’s oldest cup competition, Andoni Iraola’s men must bounce back from back-to-back Premier League victories to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2020/21. Vitality would normally be a perfect place for a comeback, yet the Cherries have lost their last two matches on this ground without scoring. However, they can take confidence from avoiding defeat in six previous home games (W4, D2) – four of which saw them keep a clean sheet! 

Meanwhile, Wolverhampton’s season-long fight against Premier League relegation took another hit during midweek as they slumped to a 2-1 home loss to Fulham. Only five points clear of the bottom three, Wolves may find this a welcome distraction, though they meet a top-flight opponent for the first time in this FA Cup campaign. Indeed, they overcame second-tier Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers in the past two rounds, netting precisely two goals on both occasions. However, that’s a feat they’ve failed to achieve in their last three encounters against Premier League opposition (W1, L2). Furthermore, they’ve averaged 0.5 goals per game across four away meetings with top-flight rivals in 2025!