Manuel Akanji returns to the starting line-up for today’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium after suspension along with Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Jeremy Doku.
They replace Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish who move to the bench after their impressive performances in the 3-0 victory over Manchester United last Sunday.
Teams
CITY XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bernardo, Doku, Alvarez, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Dias, Phillips, Grealish, Gvardiol, Nunes, Foden, Bobb, Lewis.
BOURNEMOUTH XI: Radu, Aarons, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Kelly (C), Kerkez, Scott, Philip, Christie, Solanke, Tavernier.
Subs: Travers, Smith, Senesi, Rothwell, Brooks, O. Dango, Sinisterra, Kluivert, Semenyo.
Tactics
With five City matches in November as well as the majority of his first team squad heading to their countries for an international break, Guardiola has to manage the workloads of his players.
It looks like a straight change in the back-four from the side that played at Old Traford with Akanji replacing Dias in the centre of defence and Ake on the left-hand side with John Stones reprising his role as a hybrid midfielder.
Doku is likely to come into the left wing position and the role that saw him terrorise James Milner in our last Premier League home game against Brighton, which we won 2-1.
City have options in the middle with the possibility that Bernardo Silva moves into the inside right position with Kovacic fitting into a more left-sided midfield role.
CHERRY PICKER
Bournemouth were one of the few teams to stop Erling Haaland from scoring at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League last season but he gets another chance today.
The City striker goes into today’s with five goals from his last three matches and a hat-trick would see him become the quickest player to reach 50 Premier League goals ever.
Ahead of the game, Guardiola explained why he has been but such a regular starter to the season and why his goals are the obvious answer, the City boss says he feels very strong at the moment after injury niggles early in his career.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in, March, April, and May but we want to try to win games so that in March, April, and May, we will be contenders in the competitions we are playing in,” the boss said.
“Then we’ll see if he’s tired and if he is, we will give him a rest.
“But now, I sense he’s feeling good and for us, having him on the pitch gives us confidence because he’s an incredible threat to opponents.”
Match stats
Bournemouth have won none of their 18 league games against City, the most any side has ever faced another without winning in English Football League history.
City have won all 14 of their home Premier League matches in 2023. We have only had one longer home winning run in the Premier League, winning 20 consecutively between March 2011 and March 2012.
Andoni Iraola picked up his first Premier League win as Bournemouth manager in their last game, a 2-1 victory over Burnley. The Cherries haven’t won consecutive league games since April, when they beat relegated sides Southampton and Leeds.
Bournemouth come into this game in 17th position in the Premier League. Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 53 home league games against sides starting the day in the bottom-four of the table, winning 48, since a 2-1 defeat to Spurs in November 2008, who started the day bottom.
Since winning three consecutive away Premier League games in April, Bournemouth have only picked up one point in six games on the road, drawing 2-2 with Brentford in September.
City have faced the fewest shots in the Premier League this season (68), while Bournemouth have faced the joint second-most (174). Since 2003/04; the only instances of a team facing fewer shots in the first 10 games of a Premier League season are all by City under Pep Guardiola – 59 in 2018/19, 63 in 2017/18 and 67 in 2021/22.
Erling Haaland has scored 47 goals in just 45 Premier League appearances for City, which is two more than Bournemouth have scored since the start of last season (45 in 48 games). In Premier League history, the fewest games needed to score 50 goals is 65, achieved by Andrew Cole in 1994.
City haven’t lost any of the last 24 Premier League games when Rodrigo has made an appearance, winning 22 including all eight games the Spaniard has featured in this season. Despite missing two games, he has completed 123 more passes in the opposition half than anyone else this season (471), while his passing accuracy in the opposition half is the best of any player to complete 50+ (93.5%).
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