AFC Bournemouth welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Dorset in their penultimate home game of the Premier League season – but who will start for Cherries?

The hosts are still dealing with a six-name strong injury list heading into the fixture, Cherries sitting 10th – one place above Brighton, albeit having played one game more.

Cherries will hope to continue their five-game unbeaten streak at Vitality Stadium in the Premier League, but how will they go about it?

Goalkeeper

It was somewhat of a surprise that Mark Travers started in goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers, with first-choice goalkeeper Neto dropped to bench.

Head coach Andoni Iraola insisted that Neto had done ‘zero’ wrong in recent weeks, with the switch simply for the head coach to take a look at Travers in Premier League action.

Following the same logic, we cannot assume that Travers’ solid performance and clean sheet against Wolverhampton automatically means he will continue in goal.

We feel that Iraola will revert back to Neto in between the sticks, but it feels a 50/50 guess at this stage.

Defenders

We know that Cherries will definitely be without the services of Milos Kerkez – meaning Lloyd Kelly is a shoo-in at left-back.

Marcos Senesi came off with a limp on Wednesday night but Iraola is confident all players with minor issues will recover in time for this afternoon’s game.

As such, we predict that the Argentine will once again partner Illia Zabarnyi.

Adam Smith captained the side in Neto’s absence in midweek, but after predicting that the goalkeeper will return, the added experience Cherries’ vice-captain brings may not be a necessity.

Presuming Iraola will look to rotate in order to negotiate a busy week, we’re plumping for Aarons at right-back.

Midfield

Antoine Semenyo’s return to the starting XI produced a goal, an eighth strike in the Premier League this season.

The Ghanaian is clearly over the calf issue that impacted him a few weeks back, and as such seems like one of the first names on the team sheet.

Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie played the full 90 minutes in midweek, but it still feels likely the duo will at least start against Brighton.

Alex Scott returned and looked assured against Wolves in the number 10 role, which appears to be where Iraola views the starlet on the pitch.

Scott’s continued inclusion at least frees up Justin Kluivert to return to the wing, but the Dutchman has excelled in the hole.

However, with wing options still limited, Scott playing through the middle with Kluivert out wide seems as straightforward a choice as Iraola can make at the moment.

That being said, with Marcus Tavernier, Romain Faivre, and Luis Sinisterra all ruled out at the moment, Dango Ouattara provides Iraola some food for thought, but it feels likely the Burkinabe will be asked to make an impact off the bench again.

Forward

Iraola has a bit of a conundrum up top. Dominic Solanke is in fine form and in the chase for the Premier League Golden Boot with four games remaining, which will mean a guaranteed inclusion in the starting XI.

January signing Enes Unal is yet to have been given a proper chance to show his full skillset.

With Cherries having to make a decision over signing the Turkish international permanently this summer, the final games of the season feel like a good chance to see what Unal is all about.

It is hard not to see Solanke starting but expect Unal to be given a decent chunk of time off the bench.

Predicted XI: Neto; Aarons, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kelly; Christie, Cook; Semenyo, Scott, Kluivert; Solanke.