Bournemouth v MK Dons betting tips: Cherries eye Carabao Cup run
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Bournemouth v MK Dons betting tips and odds
Bournemouth get their Championship campaign under way against West Brom on August 6 but before then they have a Carabao Cup first-round tie against MK Dons to negotiate in what will be Scott Parker’s first competitive game in charge.
The Cherries are 9/1 in the Championship title odds and 3/1 to be promoted ahead of their clash with MK Dons on Saturday.
The hosts are 3/5 to beat the League One team inside 90 minutes so let’s check out some of the other markets and odds in our Bournemouth v MK Dons betting tips.
Match Odds
Bournemouth reached the Championship play-offs last season but Chris Mepham’s 28th-minute dismissal against Brentford resulted in a 3-2 aggregate defeat in the semi-final in what turned out to be Jonathan Woodgate’s last game in charge.
The Cherries beat Crystal Palace 11-10 on penalties in the Carabao Cup second round last season after a goalless 90 minutes and then went down 2-1 to a second-string Manchester City side.
They also beat Premier League side Burnley en route to the FA Cup quarter-finals, so they had a decent run in the cup competitions.
🗣 "The main thing is about winning games and my job to help the team win games is scoring goals – that’s the best way I can contribute"
— Milton Keynes Dons (@MKDonsFC) July 26, 2021
The Championship side are 100/1 to win the Carabao Cup but more realistically they are 2/1 to win and both teams to score against MK Dons, who finished mid-table in League One last season.
The Cherries, who have signed left-back Leif Davis on a season-long loan from Leeds with an option to buy, still have some excellent players in their squad like David Brooks, Arnaut Danjuma, Jefferson Lerma, Dominic Solanke and Philip Billing, so they have the quality to overwhelm a team like MK Dons should Parker decide to pick a strong squad.
Bournemouth lost their last three matches in the regular season but had won their previous seven to secure a top-six spot and Parker will hope to maintain that momentum at the weekend when they are 5/4 to win and over 2.5 goals.
Interestingly, they were ahead after half an hour in six of those seven victories and are 9/5 to be in front by the 30th minute.
Talking Tactics
Parker deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation in the 2-1 pre-season defeat by a strong Chelsea team containing Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Marcos Alonso in the starting line-up, with Edouard Mendy, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley coming on in the second half.
MK Dons have had a decent pre-season, beating Championship side Coventry 7-1 in a behind-closed-doors friendly for a third successive victory although they lost 3-1 to Bristol City.
Russell Martin has signed eight new players during the summer transfer window, the latest defender Tennai Watson on a free following his exit from Reading, so exciting times could be on their way to this ambitious club.
Match Info
Where: Vitality Stadium
When: 15:00, Saturday 31st July
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
