After a strong start in August and September 2024, Manchester City continued to perform well in October 2024. In this season’s English Premier League, the Sky Blue find themselves at the top of the table. They won their league matches in October, where they overcame Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Southampton. Then, in the UEFA Champions League, Manchester City defeated Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Praha. The results mean that the Sky Blues find themselves in a good position in the table in the Champions League.
But the Sky Blues also faced some unexpected issues. First, the senior men’s team received several injuries throughout the month. They are without several of their star players, and they are a center-back injury and a goalkeeper injury away from fielding a full starting squad of players who have been sidelined for various reasons. The injuries also impacted Manchester City’s recent match in the EFL Cup’s Round of 16, where they were defeated by a more senior Tottenham Hotspur side.
Now, City will hope that their injured players will come back quickly, Otherwise, Manchester City may struggle in November.
This month, the Sky Blues will have five matches across two competitions. They will play three EPL games and two Champions League games. Should they win all five matches, they will remain in first place in the EPL table and they will also find themselves in a good position to qualify for the Champions League’s knockout stages this season.
Manchester City will begin the month away against Bournemouth, where they will play on Saturday, 2 November. The Cherries have failed to earn a result against the Sky Blues over the past few seasons, but the hosts have earned some important results at home this season, including a victory over Arsenal. The Sky Blues will be weary of this match.
After this game, Manchester City will travel to Portugal to play against Sporting CP in the Champions League. The game will be held on Tuesday, 5 November. These two clubs last faced each other during the 2021/2022 Champions League season, where City won on aggregate 5-0. It is expected that Manchester City will win this game.
Following this Champions League fixture, the Sky Blues will return to EPL action. They will travel to face Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, 9 November. The Seagulls have troubled the Sky Blues in previous seasons, and they will aim to disrupt City’s style of play.
After these three road matches, Manchester City will return home to host their first match in November. They will face Tottenham Hotspur in the EPL on Saturday, 23 November. The matches between City and Spurs have been fierce as there has been a lot of drama in these fixtures. Spurs recently defeated City in the EFL Cup, and the hosts will look to bounce back from this performance as they hope to defeat Spurs.
Manchester City will then conclude the month of November with a home game in the Champions League against Feyenoord. The match will be held on Tuesday, 26 November. The two clubs previously faced each other during the 2017/2018 season, where Manchester City won 5-0 on aggregate. It is expected that the home side will perform well in this game, and it will help the Sky Blues secure passage to the Champions League’s knockout stages.
The biggest difficulty this month for Manchester City will be their injury crisis. Should the Sky Blues win these five matches, and should they continue to perform well, then they will put themselves in a good position ahead of the hectic holiday season. This would be very important for their title defence and their hope to win the Champions League.
In short, November 2024 may be a challenging month for the Sky Blues due to their current list of injuries. Will Manchester City overcome these injury woes and earn several important results? Or will these issues disrupt their season?