**Bournemouth are short on firepower but still heavy favorites in what looks like a classic cup mismatch** — the Cherries host Lincoln City in a Carabao Cup shootout where Premier League experience should tell. 🏆

Bournemouth's form is patchy (just one win in five), but Lincoln come in as underdogs despite sitting pretty at 2W-2D-1L across their last run. The visitors have a solid recent record and took Bournemouth twice in the last four h2h meetings, so there's a whiff of danger here.

Key storylines:

- **Bournemouth's injury list** keeps growing with Adli, Kroupi, Araujo and Milosavljević all sidelined, forcing rotation across the midfield and defence
- **Lincoln's grit on the road** — they snatched a win at Bolton and held Blackburn, so they won't roll over despite the league gap
- **Evanilson and Rayan** need to convert what should be a glut of chances if the Cherries control play as expected

Expected lineups:

- **Bournemouth**: Đ. Petrović, A. Smith, J. Hill, A. Silva, A. Truffert, A. Scott, T. Adams, M. Tavernier, J. Kluivert, Rayan, Evanilson
- **Lincoln City**: G. Wickens, D. Elerewe, R. Towler, T. Hamer, A. Reach, T. Darikwa, C. McGrandles, V. Ivan, D. Jefferies, B. House, R. Hackett-Fairchild

Prediction:

**Bournemouth 2-0 Lincoln City** — the home side should edge through despite the injury toll, though Lincoln's resilience might frustrate them into a narrow margin.