- Bournemouth are unbeaten in five home games in all competitions (W3, D2)
- Lincoln City have won five of their seven away matches across all competitions this season (D1, L1)
- Bournemouth are averaging 4.20 goals per game at home across all current competitions and have scored 21 times
Bournemouth must bring the tempo to this game
Bournemouth are odds-on favourites to beat Lincoln City at 6/25, with the draw priced at 24/5 for Tuesday's EFL Cup 2026-2027 fixture at Vitality Stadium, England. It is probably fair to say that Bournemouth should win, but Lincoln's form and style suggests they can make a good game of it.
Cherries boss Marco Rose has installed a flexible system at Bournemouth that is very aggressive at times and allows his side to transition quickly when they win the ball back. The wide defensive line, narrow overloads and high press should force the tempo of this game and make it an interesting test of character for both teams.
Bournemouth have been fairly solid at home, but the two most recent games have not been a great omen for this one, as they came out on the wrong end of 2-1 scorelines in back-to-back away games at Manchester City and Mainz. They were much better at the weekend when taking a 1-1 draw at Everton and should get the game moving on Tuesday.
Lincoln are a well-organised unit
Lincoln City are a much more pragmatic team than Bournemouth, which may allow them to avoid the worst of Bournemouth's pressing, while their ability to keep a structure means the Imps will be hard to break down.
Chris Cohen's side arrived in Dorset on the back of a 1-0 away win at Bolton and 0-0 home draw with Blackburn, so it would not be a surprise if they kept things tight in this one. The Imps are scoring 2.00 goals per away game in all current competitions and have only conceded 0.86, which is a pretty impressive record.
Backing the Cherries to win and over 2.5 goals seems a good alternative bet here as it plays into Bournemouth's preferred style of play, while they will be on the front foot throughout this cup tie. Bournemouth have four wins, four draws and two defeats from their last ten games in all competitions, while Lincoln City have six wins, two draws and just two defeats.
