AFC Bournemouth vs Forest Green Rovers Predictions

Bournemouth have come close to an impressive run in the Carabao Cup over the last couple of seasons, but they are always left wanting. They’ve lost in back-to-back quarter-finals, but Eddie Howe’s men are still a danger in this competition. They will want to come through the early rounds with a straightforward clash with a League Two side facing them on Wednesday night. Can the Cherries rack up a win to move to the next round, or can the visitors pull off another shock?

The hosts have been solid in their home games in this competition, winning four on the bounce plus one extra-time victory over Brighton. They were last beaten at home in 90 minutes when they faced Liverpool in 2014. We see them coming through another tie at the Vitality Stadium, even after their weekend loss here. So far the Cherries have a point from their first two home games of the Premier League season after facing Sheffield United and Manchester City. They did compete with City on Sunday, which points to better things to come for the hosts.

Forest Green missed out in the League Two playoffs last term but they are aiming to win promotion this term. They are into the top three in the table at this early stage following some decent results so far. However, they’ve made it that far thanks to some impressive defending, so expect them to come to the Vitality and try to keep things tight. That’s exactly what they did in the last round, holding Charlton to a 0-0 draw before winning on penalties at the Valley. Trying to pull that off at a top-flight side is going to be tough.

Forest Green will have to cover a lot of ground to shut out Bournemouth, but we expect them to try it. The visitors have scored a goal per game in the fourth tier this term, with five of their six matches in all competitions finishing with fewer than three goals scored. Now they are stepping up in what is likely to be the toughest game of their season, so we can see them struggling to make an impact at Bournemouth.

The Cherries will be out to continue their four-game winning streak at home in this competition, while this is a chance for a rare clean sheet for them. They won 3-0 when they last met a side outside of the top two divisions in this competition, which brought a 3-0 win over MK Dons. Now we see them dispensing with a Forest Green side who will sit deep here. After a string of low scoring games for the visitors, we’re backing Bournemouth to win and under 3.5 goals to be scored.