Brentford's record signing Dango Ouattara says former forwards Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo have influenced his promising start to life at his new club.
Ouattara joined Brentford from Bournemouth in the summer to help replace Wissa and Mbeumo, who completed respective moves to Newcastle United and Manchester United.
The 23-year-old is currently on international duty with Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations, having netted three times in 16 Premier League appearances in 2025-26.
Wissa and Mbeumo scored 39 league goals between them last season under now Tottenham boss Thomas Frank, leading the Bees to a 10th-placed finish in the top flight.
"I was lucky to get to know him a bit, which is a plus," Ouattara told BBC Sport Africa when asked about DR Congo international Wissa.
"He told me that it's a club where the staff are very close to the players. Now I can see it for myself."
Mbeumo made the move to Old Trafford for a reported £65m, and he is also at AFCON with Cameroon.
"Whether you're African or not, [they're] inspiring," Ouattara reflected when asked about the impact Mbeumo and Wissa had on his decision to join Brentford.
"Wissa managed to score almost 20 goals without a penalty [last season]. That's an inspiration to all strikers."
Ouattara helped Burkina Faso to victory in their first game at AFCON on Wednesday, with his late assist for Georgi Minoungou leading his team to a 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea.
A Player of the Match performance
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 24, 2025
Dango's late assist helped Burkina Faso open #AFCON25 with a 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea pic.twitter.com/u5MhWqHE9G
Ouattara's former club Bournemouth, meanwhile, were pegged back late in their last Premier League encounter, with Armando Broja's 90th-minute leveller helping Burnley to a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
They are now winless in eight top-flight games (D4 L4), drawing each of their last three and conceding four of their last six goals in the competition after the 75th minute.
It was a game that the Cherries dominated, having registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.41 from their 16 shots to Burnley's 0.38 from their four attempts in the match.
After a strong start to the season, Bournemouth have dropped to 15th in the Premier League table, and Andoni Iraola has called on his team to be more efficient in the final third.
"For me, it's not about the position in the table, it's the points that matter. We have 22 points, which isn't a bad amount, but we want to have more," Iraola said.
"We have two more chances before we reach the halfway point of the season, and we want to add more. I think 25 points would be a good amount for us."
Iraola does not feel Bournemouth's inconsistency is only down to them being a young squad, but also about "the changes overall", adding: "We are in a process that will take time.
"We have changed a lot. We have sold and bought a lot of players. They are all adapting at different rates, so the process is still ongoing."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brentford – Keane Lewis-Potter
Lewis-Potter scored a brace against Wolves last time out, as many goals he'd netted in his previous 69 Premier League appearances combined.
He's never scored in consecutive appearances before, but with a brace under his belt, he will be hoping to shine once again in the Bees frontline on home turf.
Bournemouth – Antoine Semenyo
Much of the talk leading up to the game has been about the future of Semenyo after his sensational 2025, having been involved in 20 Premier League goals this calendar year with 14 goals and six assists.
Indeed, it's the joint-most goal involvements by a Cherries player in a calendar year, along with Dominic Solanke in 2023 (15 goals, five assists), while the only other Ghanaian with 20+ goals and assists in a year was Tony Yeboah in 1995 for Leeds United (22 goals, three assists).
MATCH PREVIEW
Brentford are unbeaten in their last nine league games against Bournemouth (W7 D2), including all six meetings in the Premier League (W4 D2).
The Bees have also won their last three league games against Bournemouth, last winning more consecutively against the Cherries between April 1964 and May 1966 (five).
However, Brentford have only won one of their seven Premier League matches played between Christmas and New Year (D2 L4), beating West Ham 2-0 in December 2022.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, have won just one of their last 15 away league games against Brentford (D5 L9) and are winless in 10 since a 2-0 win in League One in October 2005.
But Iraola's side have picked up just four points in their last eight Premier League matches (D4 L4), last enduring a longer winless streak between May and October 2023 (13 games).
Since the start of November, only Burnley (one) and Wolves (none) have picked up fewer points than the Cherries (four).
Despite this, they will be confident of a win. That is because Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last eight away Premier League matches in London (W2 D6), winning two of their last three trips to the capital – as many as in their previous 21 (W2 D8 L11).