Manchester City return to Premier League action as they welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium.
The Blues have played three consecutive games on the road, faring well with wins against Villarreal in the UEFA
Champions League and Swansea City in the Carabao Cup but losing disappointingly last weekend to Aston Villa in the league.
Their opponents are enjoying a magnificent run of form, and come into this fixture two points ahead of City and in second place, four points behind leaders Arsenal.
Here are five things to look forward to as City clash with the Cherries:
Rodri returning to the bench
As part of his pre-match press conference, Pep Guardiola confirmed that City have a fully fit squad heading into the weekend, which includes the fitness of Erling Haaland and Rodri.
Haaland collided with the post last week against Villa, but seems to have shaken off his knock, whilst Rodri went off injured with a hamstring injury little under a month ago.
The Spanish midfielder will probably not be ready to start, but Guardiola was hopeful that he could play some role against Bournemouth.
Nico Gonzalez has been sublime in his absence, and there’s a place for him alongside Rodri in midfield, but once the 2024 Ballon D’or winner is up to speed we can expect City to go up another gear.
A new look midfield
But as for now, City’s midfield trio against Andoni Iraola’s side will probably look very different to what we’d expect 12 months ago, and even different to this fixture last season.
City played a midfield three of Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan last season in Kevin de Bruyne’s last home game, despite having already signed Nico.
But this season things are different, and I expect the 23-year-old to definitely start as he’s been one of City’s most indispensable players this campaign so far.
Ahead of him Rayan Cherki deserves to keep his place after a man of the match performance including a goal and an assist against Swansea on Wednesday.
There are a few players that could play with Nico and Cherki, but I expect it to be Bernardo Silva or Tijjani Reijnders given both of them were left out of the squad entirely against Swansea.
I wouldn’t rule it past both of them playing with Bernardo or Cherki on the right hand side. This is particularly harsh on Phil Foden who has started the season well, but will be an amazing option from the bench.
The trio of Cherki, Nico and Reijnders didn’t fare well at all against Spurs, but they’ve had an extra two and a half months since then to bed in at City and will make for a dynamic, exciting midfield.
Nunes against Semenyo
Bournemouth’s best player, and arguably the best in the Premier League so far this season has been Antoine Semenyo.
The Ghanaian left winger has scored six Premier League goals in nine games, and could well be on the radar of big clubs for the upcoming January and summer transfer windows in 2026.
Right back is a weak spot for City, with there not being a single recognised option in that position since Kyle Walker left in January.
Abdukodir Khusanov has done an excellent job there defensively but has recently come back from injury, and doesn’t offer much going forward either, meaning I think he’ll sit this one out.
Rico Lewis is tidy on the ball but hasn’t been great for a year now, with his best performances coming in the centre of midfield almost as a number ten.
That leaves Matheus Nunes to be the man to keep Semenyo occupied. The Portuguese international is physically capable of doing so and is a good one vs one defender too, but struggles with mental lapses of concentration.
Nunes must keep those to a minimum if he’s going to subdue one of the best left wingers in the world, and if he does it’ll significantly minimise the threat posed by the Cherries.
City leaning on transitions
In his pre match press conference, Iraola said he thinks City are embracing transitions more often under their new iteration.
Fast forward two seasons ago, and managing the game and trying to avoid transitions was inevitable, with the likes of Bernardo, Gundogan and Jack Grealish vital members of title winning sides.
But nowadays, City play more to the strengths of Haaland, Omar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden by playing the ball forward a bit quicker.
They’ll naturally concede more transitions too but with quick, athletic players like Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico O’Reilly, Nico and Josko Gvardiol in defence and in the midfield, they’re better adapted at defending them.
Guardiola is adapting his system to suit the faster paced modern football, and with the players they have right now they can cause any team problems.
City’s excellent home record against Bournemouth
City have won every single home match they’ve played against Bournemouth since they were promoted for the first time in 2015, and it’s often by a convincing scoreline.
They were on the losing side against the Cherries for the first time at the Vitality Stadium in the league last season – the beginning of their autumn slump that effectively ruled them out of the title race.
But other than that, the Blues always seem to find a way to beat Bournemouth and I expect them to be able to get the three points this Sunday.
