By Premier League standards, Bournemouth is a small club. Vitality Stadium is the smallest in the Premier League, and it’d be the third-smallest in this season’s Championship.

However, with just one match to go in the 2025-26 season, the Cherries have secured European football for the first time in club history, and they even have an outside shot at the Champions League. Bournemouth would qualify for the continent’s premier competition if it beats Nottingham Forest by at least five goals at the City Ground and Liverpool loses to Brentford, or if the Reds win, the Cherries earn at least a point, and Aston Villa loses to Manchester City.

Every match in the final week will begin at 11 a.m. ET (4 p.m. local) on Sunday.

Bournemouth is a +110 favorite to take all three points at DraftKings Sportsbook, and Forest is +230. There are +275 odds that the teams will draw, which would secure the Cherries’ highest-ever point total in the Premier League.

Nottingham Forest vs. Bournemouth prediction, pick

Bournemouth is currently on the longest active unbeaten run in the division, having not suffered a defeat since it lost 3-2 to champions Arsenal on January 3. Since then, the Cherries have managed eight wins and nine draws, including four wins from their last six matches. They very nearly beat Manchester City in Matchweek 37, and while an Erling Haaland 95th-minute equalizer was enough to deny Bournemouth the full three points, it wasn’t enough to keep the Gunners from clinching their first title since 2004. Meanwhile, the Foresters have nothing to play for; four wins and two draws between Matchweeks 31 and 36 secured their safety in the top flight, and a semifinals loss to Aston Villa killed their final chance of playing in Europe next season. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Vítor Pereira sit many of his top players, especially with four of them selected for this summer’s World Cup.

One of those players is Forest’s star man, Chris Wood, who finished second in the Premier League with 20 goals last season. While the New Zealander has scored only three goals in an injury-plagued 2025-26 campaign, Morgan Gibbs-White has 14, including five in his last four matches, and Elliott Anderson, who earned a call-up to England’s national team, has four goals and four assists. All in all, the Foresters’ attack has been relatively muted, as they’ve only produced the sixth-fewest expected goals, but at least they’ve been clinical, ranking eighth in goals minus expected goals. They also rank in the top half of the league in passing accuracy, both overall and on passes into the final third. Their attack has been just good enough to make up for their mediocre defense, which ranks fourth-to-last in expected goals, seventh-to-last in shots on target against, and fourth-to-last in aerial duel winning percentage. Additionally, Nottingham Forest has been pretty poor at forcing high turnovers, and on the other end, it has made among the most errors leading to a shot. It has had to rely largely on goalkeeper Mats Selz, as it ranks third in goals conceded minus expected goals and Selz ranks third in save percentage.

Despite all the big names that have departed Bournemouth recently, it still has the overall talent edge. During the summer, the Cherries lost striker Dominic Solanke to Tottenham amid a wave of departures, and they sold attacking midfielder Antoine Semenyo to the Sky Blues during the winter transfer window after he’d scored 10 goals for them in the first half of the season. Still, they’re stacked with depth; Eli Junior Kroupi became the highest-scoring teenage debutant in Premier League history with 13 goals, and fellow teenager Rayan was a surprise addition to Brazil’s World Cup squad. All in all, Bournemouth ranked fifth in both expected goals and goals, and it scored the most fast-break goals. It also played mistake-free football, committing the second-fewest errors leading to a shot. Defensively, though, the Cherries are far more gettable, allowing the sixth-most expected goals and the third-highest shot-in-box percentage. They’re also one of just three teams to win fewer than half of both their ground and aerial duels. But Bournemouth has fought hard, ranking near the top of the league in interceptions, recoveries, and clearances, and it has been among the best pressing teams. Ðorðe Petrović, though not as good as Selz, has been more than serviceable in between the sticks.

The Cherries won the teams’ previous matchup, 2-0, with Marcus Tavernier and Kroupi both finding the net before halftime, and in that match, they were slightly more clinical in all phases of the game. All in all, Bournemouth’s more aggressive style of play should be enough to deliver it another win, as its press should force the Foresters into mistakes, and on the other side of the ball, Forest’s inability to play the offsides trap could be a problem, given the Cherries’ success in fast break situations. Plus, Bournemouth’s biggest issue is its indiscipline, as it ranks second in the league in fouls, but the Foresters have been the league’s worst team in set piece situations. There’s also a possibility that Nottingham Forest will opt for bench players, and it has less depth than the Cherries. With Manchester City going all-out in Pep Guardiola’s last game in charge, it’ll be enough to make Bournemouth a Champions League team.

Best Bet: Bournemouth Moneyline (+110)