Bournemouth v Cardiff preview: Harry Arter ineligible to face parent club after deadline-day loan

Harry Arter is ineligible to face his parent club after completing a season-long loan move from Bournemouth to Cardiff City on deadline day.

Arter will watch from the stands at the Vitality Stadium this weekend following his move on Thursday, and the midfielder is the only absentee for the Bluebirds with Neil Warnock able to select from a fully fit squad.

Warnock's Cardiff will be looking to hit the ground running in their return to the top flight, five years on from their only previous Premier League season.

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Their fellow new boys have splashed the cash, with Wolves breaking their transfer record through the reported £18m signing of Adama Traore from Middlesbrough and Fulham becoming the first newly-promoted Premier League club to spend over £100m.

Veteran boss Warnock has signed six players this summer, but said ahead of Saturday's first game at Bournemouth: "I think we've spent about £25m net.

"We're not throwing money away or doing things we can't sustain. We've got players on loan so if things don't go right it's not going to bankrupt the club after 12 months.

"But at the same time the players have got something to prove and last year we gave most teams a run."

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Team news

Record signing Jefferson Lerma is not ready to make his Bournemouth debut in Saturday's Premier League opener against Cardiff.

Boss Eddie Howe expects the Colombia midfielder to need some time to work towards match fitness. Nathan Ake is back in contention after overcoming the toe injury which forced him off during the win over Marseille last weekend.

Junior Stanislas could be sidelined for a month with a knee injury, Kyle Taylor is out with a muscle problem and new recruit Diego Rico is suspended.

Arter is the only player unavailable (ineligible) for Cardiff. Alex Smithies, Josh Murphy, Greg Cunningham, Victor Camarasa and Bobby Reid are all in contention to make their Bluebirds debuts.

Match stats

• Bournemouth have lost just one of their last eight league clashes with Cardiff (W4 D3), with their last meeting coming in March 2015 in the Championship (1-1).
• Bournemouth have lost all three of their matchday one Premier League fixtures, the worst such 100 per cent losing record in the competition.
• Cardiff have lost just one of their last 10 opening fixtures to a league season (W5 D4), though this came in their only previous Premier League campaign (0-2 vs West Ham in 2013-14).
• In their previous Premier League campaign, Cardiff won just two of their 19 away games. However, one of those wins came on the south coast (1-0 vs Southampton).
• Bournemouth have never lost a Premier League home game against a newly promoted side, winning six and drawing two of their eight matches.
• This will be Cardiff manager Neil Warnock's first match against Bournemouth since October 1999 when he was Bury manager (2-2 in the third tier). In total, he's won five of his 10 previous meetings with the Cherries (D4 L1).
• Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has never lost a league game against Cardiff as manager, though five of the six previous meetings have ended level (W1 D5 L0).

Merson's prediction

Cardiff are a team who have to get off to a flyer. I'm doing this game for Soccer Saturday and I'm not sure it's the kind of fixture you want to start with when you get promoted. Sometimes you want the big boys at the start, with the pressure off.

Cardiff will look to use their long throw on a small pitch at Bournemouth, but I feel the home side have too much quality.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)

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