Manchester City need to win this Saturday night to keep up pace with Liverpool, who won midweek, and to put pressure on Arsenal playing later this evening. The cherries were soundly beaten early on in the season at the Etihad, since then have turned their league form around for the most part, with their manager implementing his out of possession structure. Will that be enough to take points off City Saturday night?

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Starting Point

Bournemouth vs Man City Preview

Notable Injuries:

• Manchester City will be without Jack Grealish (groin) and Josko Gvardiol (ankle) who are close to returning for the Manchester Derby.

• Kevin De Bruyne has had his hamstring assessed, traveled to Bournemouth but could still be an unused sub.

• Bournemouth are without Tyler Adams (thigh), Max Aarons (thigh), Ryan Fredericks (calf), James Hill (ankle) and Darren Randolph (illness) but Roman Faivre will return for this game.

• Phillip Billing has one more game left on his suspension for Bournemouth.

Interesting Stats:

• Bournemouth have not won a Premier League game in 2024, having 3 draws and 2 losses.

• Head-to-head record between the two sides has Manchester City with 14 wins, 0 losses and 0 draws. In the Premier League.

• Bournemouth have not kept a clean sheet in the last 4 games.

• Manchester City have scored first in 8 of the last 10 games. Not losing a game in their last 16 played in all competitions.

Thoughts on the game:

• A key part of the success Bournemouth had this season was due to their pressing, causing turnovers and converting them. No team has converted more final third regains than Bournemouth this season (8), tied with Wolves (8).

• The Athletic have done a piece on that, linked here, which goes into more detail on that set up. As seen below, they aim to isolate the ball in the build up to a full back and pin the opposition on that side. Number 10 stepping up with the striker to pick up the two central defenders.
  
  Assume that you’ll be seeing Pep change up the build up, to not have two central defenders and disrupt this with Rodri and Kovacic dropping. Also using Ederson to pass long over that press to Haaland akin to some performances against Arsenal.

• Ederson as I mentioned above will be more important in this game than most as an error is something they will almost certainly capitalize on but the other side of that is him being crucial to by passing that press over the top or through the middle.

• Kovacic was fantastic against Spurs being pressed aggressively and giving Rodri much more space on the ball. Assuming he is fit then he should come in for this game. Bernardo included in that.

• De Bruyne I think will come on in the second half as a substitute rather than risked from the start, given the quotes from Guardiola. Although the midweek is an FA Cup game against Luton so perhaps Pep will want to get him fit and sharp before the Manchester Derby with a full game.

• Doku had his best performance against Bournemouth at home and will be most likely given the start in this game, after looking sharp in his substitute appearance against Brentford. Ake to come back in for Akanji at LB after his rest.

• Walker I would assume starts given he started most games this season, second most minutes and so on but if Akanji plays RB to rest him that wouldn’t be a surprise. Gives the team a better option on the ball in the build up.

• Stones, Dias, Haaland, Foden all to start and then Luton Town midweek would be the better game to rotate players knowing that the derby is coming up next weekend.

• I cannot repeat this enough each week, in the games right now Haaland must take his chances and given how many he has missed of late you’d think a return to the norm is coming soon.

Ones to Watch:

• Manchester City: Against a team that is fantastic at winning the ball high up the pitch and converting those chances into goals, how we build up will be key. I expect Kovacic to get the pick this game and show a similar display to his Spurs performance.

• Bournemouth: Solanke is the obvious pick for this given he has found his feet in the Premier League as a consistent goal scorer but it’s Alex Scott I would keep an eye on in this game. Talented midfielder who is just as tenacious off the ball as he is threading passes on it. One of the best in Europe this season for intercepting passes in a team that has impressed with their pressing this season.

Predicted Lineup: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Rodri, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden, Doku, Haaland

Predicted Score: Bournemouth 1 - 2 Manchester City

Since it is the Carabao Cup Final this weekend, enjoy this clip from when we beat Chelsea on penalties. Perhaps Sterling will have the final say on Sunday against Liverpool. I still have no idea how Aguero managed to squeeze his shot in!

That’s all for this newsletter, rounding up our week with everything here at Sky Blue Times and the world of Manchester City. We are always looking for other ways to provide value to our subscribers so we appreciate any feedback provided in the comments below.

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