Bournemouth provided us with some incredibly entertaining games over the course of the 2016/2017 Premier League and their attacking philosophy proved a hit with many supporters. With 55 goals scored and 67 goals conceded there weren’t many matches that Bournemouth were involved in that didn’t provide value for money.
After their relegation battle in 2015/16, they have consolidated their position in the Premier League and whilst they are never going to be challenging at the top end of the Premier League, a few more shrewd additions in the summer and they should make themselves a Premier League stalwart.
On the opening day of the season, Bournemouth lined up with Andrew Surman, Harry Arter, Lewis Cook and Jordan Ibe. They went down 3-1 to Manchester United that day and it looked like Bournemouth were going to struggle again in the Premier League. However, they made some wise additions in Jack Wilshere and with Junior Stanislas still to return, their season turned out very different.
Junior Stanislas proved to be pick of the bunch and despite starting just 18 matches for Bournemouth, his contribution proved vital. He scored a total of seven league goals and the winner he bagged against Everton in September in a 1-0 win kick-started his season. The signing from Burnley chipped in with 5 assists and with a value of 5.0M, he returned with a price/performance ratio of 10.6.
On-loan Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who has had a horrific run of injuries, managed 22 starts before he found himself on the injury list again, this time with a leg fracture. He didn’t manage to find the net in those starts and chipped in with a miserable 2 assists. From these stats, one would think it’s highly unlikely that Bournemouth would look to take him on loan again for the upcoming season.
Harry Arter and Ryan Fraser both made important contributions over the season. With Arter playing in a more defensive role, he started 33 matches and managed to bag one goal and four assists. Ryan Fraser, who was signed from Aberdeen in 2102 has made the journey from League One with Bournemouth and whilst he is never going to cut it at the very top, he proved to be a useful player with 3 goals, 5 assists and 6 clean sheets in his 19 starts. His price/performance ratio returned at 5.1 with the aforementioned Harry Arter coming in at 2.8.
There is still a lot of work to be done with Bournemouth, despite their 9th placed finish, their defence was appalling during some games. If they can tighten that up, then there is no telling where they might end up next season.
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