Man City are pushing to claim the top of the Premier League table and after 25 matches, they are four points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.
Manchester City are peaking at the right time and this weekend they head to Vitality Stadium to take on AFC Bournemouth, a team who have won just seven league matches this season. City have won their last 14 matches against Bournemouth in all competitions and they are obviously the favourites to win on Saturday as well but Pep Guardiola will have to be really careful because Man City have some very important fixtures coming up.
After this matchweek, Man City will have to play four matches in a span of 12 days and out of these, two of their opponents are Manchester United and Liverpool.
MCFC are undefeated in their previous 16 matches across all competitions and their last defeat came during the first week of December when Aston Villa beat them 1-0 at Villa Park.
Manchester City’s team news and injuries:
Man City remain without Gvardiol and Jack Grealish both of whom are not going to return before the next month.
The Cityzens played a midweek game against Brentford so it won’t be a big surprise if Pep Guardiola rotates and rests some of his important players at the weekend.
Manuel Akanji played at left-back against the Bees but there’s a chance Nathan Ake could come into the role.
Kevin De Bruyne sat out that game because he complained of a slight niggle but Guardiola has made it clear that his omission was just a precaution and the playmaker is not injured.
Pep said in his post-match press conference(h/t Goal): “He has niggles in his hamstring area and I didn’t want to take any risk with him. He’s OK, he’s OK, it was more about prevention. He said he didn’t feel comfortable and the doctors said not to take a risk.”
KDB missed the first half of the season due to an injury and honestly speaking, the Man City manager has no reason to risk him against the Cherries. Alvarez and Bernardo Silva played in the attacking midfielder’s role in midweek and the pair are more than capable of seeing out Andoni Iraola’s team.
20-year-old Oscar Bobb got a start in midweek but Jeremy Doku is going to replace him out on the left wing.
Erling Haaland has featured in 20 Premier League games this season and the Norwegian is the current top-scorer in the competition with 17 goals.
Man City predicted line up vs Bournemouth:
Predicted Starting line up(4-1-4-1): Ederson; Ruben Dias, Walker, John Stones, Ake/Akanji; Rodri; Alvarez, Silva, Foden, Doku; Haaland.
