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Why we need to send out a message at the Riverside

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As an AFC Bournemouth fan I’m pretty happy with how things are going this season so far - I don’t think that would come as much of a surprise to anyone really. After a slow start, our recent displays of ferocious pressing and concise passing have been a true pleasure to witness - and we find ourselves in the top half of the table as a result.

One thing we haven’t done yet this campaign is win away from home however - even though we were moments from doing so against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and had the chances to beat Watford at Vicarage Road too.

As a result our match against Middlesbrough this Saturday is a far bigger fixture than it might seem on paper - as it seems to be a fairly presentable chance for us to break our away duck. It’s also an opportunity for the Teesside outfit to break their dry spell at home too, having gained just a solitary point at the Riverside so far this campaign.

Both teams will no doubt be eager to build on their impressive draws against North London sides last week as well, with our battling stalemate against Tottenham and Middlesbrough’s defensive masterclass at the Emirates versus Arsenal.

But in my view this game is one we need to aim to win - or at least go for the jugular in - to lay down a marker and prove we want to be more than relegation battlers this season. Yes, Middlesbrough have a bigger stadium and have spent far more time in the upper reaches of the English football pyramid compared to us - but very recent history shows we are the better team, and have one more year of (recent) Premier League experience over them to boot.

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Taking only a single point from home fixtures against Watford, Crystal Palace, and Stoke City shows Aitor Karanka’s side are in a highly vulnerable state right now too - if there was ever a match we could target as a possible away win it’s this one.

That’s not in any way underestimating our opponent this weekend though. As Arsenal found out to their cost Middlesborough are a defensively sound side - Mourinho disciple Karanka may not have the most expansive footballing philosophy, but one thing you can’t criticise him on is his ability to organise his team’s back line. We learnt that ourselves when we played out a tense 0-0 draw at the Riverside in our Championship title winning season.

I can’t see the game having many goals in it as a result, which means striking first will likely be essential if we’re to bring anything back to the south coast - so starting with the attacking intensity we show at home will be important in quelling the noisy home support.

We can take some encouragement from the sides who have won at the Riverside too. Crystal Palace’s pace on the wings caused Middlesbrough loads of problems for instance, and we can hurt them in a similar way - to say we have a large roster of speedy players would be an understatement. Watford also managed to win 1-0 in the north east with a relatively average performance, suggesting that if we hit full throttle Karanka’s outfit should find us tough to handle.

That will definitely be the case if we can win the midfield battle too, and I think the fact we have such a settled formation will work in our favour as well - whereas it’s not really clear what Middlesbrough’s definitively best starting eleven or formation is from week to week.

The Middlesbrough manager admitting this week that he hasn’t looked through the highlights from our 6-1 victory against Hull City in any great detail may also work in our favour, and possibly demonstrates that we could be being severely underestimated. I genuinely hope that’s the case anyway - as we can then use this in our favour to send out a real message to those who think our recent form is just a temporary blip.