Sports

Ipswich Town Seek Home Victory Against In‑Form Bournemouth

By Today News Hours Editorial Desk

Town midfielder Florentino Luís said the Portman Road crowd can help the Blues win their upcoming match against Bournemouth. The Cherries have won their last seven games in all competitions and their last three Premier League matches without conceding, which has moved them to eighth place with 12 points, one point ahead of Town after nine league matches. Bournemouth have already won twice at Portman Road this season, thanks to late winners against Sunderland and Fulham. Florentino, who has started the last four matches, believes Town can secure another strong result at home before the November international break. "It will be a very tough game because they are a team that like to play," he said. "We are prepared for that. We want to have the help of the supporters, because it is very important every time. We can see in the games that they go until the end. The victories that we have had at home, they were there at the end of the games. The atmosphere is very good. We want to have this every time that we play there going forward. We want the people to continue with us, because for sure we will give our max on the pitch. Our mindset for this game is very clear. It’s to get the three points, and we know how important it is. We want to enjoy every game at home because with our supporters it’s easier. We are looking forward to getting the three points." Bournemouth’s rise continued last season with a record‑breaking sixth‑place finish that earned them their first Europa League qualification. The club now faces the challenge of balancing European midweek fixtures with domestic weekend matches. A recent victory away to Sparta Prague kept Bournemouth’s perfect start to the Europa League intact, and Florentino praised the team’s ability to handle fixture congestion. He added that the Cherries’ success in multiple competitions is commendable. "It’s not a thing that is easy to do, but we are looking forward to playing against them and we know that will be a good game to have the win for us. It’s not easy to have a lot of travel during the week, but we know that the clubs give the best conditions to recover. This is not an excuse to perform, because you can see they have seven games winning. We are ready for what they are bringing to us and to the stadium. We are not looking for if they are tired or not, but we are looking for our game, and our focus is on our game to get the win. We can see that they have good organisation when you see the past games and the lack of goals that they conceded. But playing at home, we have always the possibility to score goals and I think it will happen. We are preparing our team to see the spots that they are a bit weak to get the goals." Florentino, who played 124 matches with former club Benfica alongside Bournemouth defender António Silva, said he knows Silva well and is happy for him in the Premier League. He added that he is not a prolific scorer, having scored only four goals in 257 senior appearances, but he netted his first English goal last weekend against Hull City at the MKM Stadium. "It was a great feeling to score my first goal for Ipswich and in the Premier League, and hopefully the first of many," the 27‑year‑old said. "We want to continue in this shape and we want to continue to have good results. In the past week we had a draw, but we would like to win. This weekend we have another opportunity to continue our way. It’s one thing that he’s trying to give to the team every week, and step‑by‑step we are getting there. The team is doing very well on the things that the coach is asking of us. We want to keep this consistency to every game and every goal like that, because we see that our work during the week is working at the weekend."