Looking Ahead to the Manchester City v Bournemouth Game

Manchester City face a tough clash against Bournemouth on Saturday

Bournemouth currently sit in 8th place in the Premier League having had a decent start to the Premier League season. So far Bournemouth have performed well against teams below them in the League but have struggled against some of the better teams, losing to Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal so far. In fact they currently sit on a poor run of form which belies their league position.

Bournemouth have not won a game since their League Cup victory over Norwich on 30 October 2018. But as Manchester City fans we know form can sometimes go out of the window. Sometimes poor form can drive a team on to do better, to buck the trend or stop the rot. It seems clear that Bournemouth have the ability to score goals and will set out to cause City difficulties on Saturday.

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Manchester City are arriving in this moment after a gruelling encounter with Lyon away in the Champions League and have a number of injury problems to contend with. City have 9 games coming up in December and these will not only set their stall out for the season but will test their resources. Pep Guardiola, despite his assurances to the contrary, will have one eye on these fixtures as he plans his tactics and team sheet against Bournemouth.

We find ourselves in a strange moment as City fans where many in the media seem to be cheerleading for City to slip up, to either make the League more entertaining or as part of some ongoing anti-City bias. Guardiola has talked of the importance of having a strong challenge. That it is the challengers who make the champion better. Personally I would prefer us to run away with the League and open up a relaxing cushion of points.

To maintain our title challenge we need to dispatch Bournemouth and i hope Guardiola selects a side capable of this quickly. This is a game where I think an early goal or two should allow us to reserve some energy for the difficulties ahead.

I expect Manchester City to line up in the usual 4-3-3 and to attack from the outset. Consequently I think City will select a strong team, but this could be the game where Guardiola chooses to rest either Fernandinho or David Silva, both of whom looked tired in the Lyon game. So whether or not Phil Foden starts in central midfield may well depend upon how players recover from Lyon.

light. Related Story. Manchester City Battle to a Draw Against Lyon

Predicted Starting XI

Goalkeeper

Ederson

Defence

Danilo, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Zinchenko

Midfield

Fabian Delph, Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden

Attack

Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling