Manchester City and Bournemouth begin Premier League life under new managers as they meet at the Etihad Stadium.
Enzo Maresca’s City finished second in the top flight last season under Pep Guardiola, whilst Marco Rose has taken charge of Bournemouth after the Cherries finished sixth under the reins of Andoni Iraola.
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Team News
Savinho and Omar Marmoush won’t be available for Man City as the pair near moves to Tottenham.
Matheus Nunes is fit after he suffered a knock in warm-up of their eventual Community Shield loss to Arsenal, whilst Jeremy Doku (calf) is still sidelined.
Bournemouth will be without Ryan Christie as he serves the last of a three-match ban picked up in May.
Julian Araujo (thigh), Eli Junior Kroupi (foot), Veljko Milosavljevic (knee) and Amine Adli (calf) are ruled out.
Julio Soler (unspecified), David Brooks (knock), Tyler Adams, Alvaro Rodriguez and Juanlu (all fitness) face late fitness checks.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City meet Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday 23 August at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City have lost just one of their 18 previous Premier League meetings against Bournemouth (W16, D1, L1)
- Bournemouth are yet to win a Premier League game away to Man City (L9).
- City manager, Maresca is yet to lose against Bournemouth in all competitions (W2, D2).
- Bournemouth are on an 18-match unbeaten top-flight run coming into this fixture (W8, D10).
Prediction
Having been clinically and ruthlessly outplayed by Arsenal in the Community Shield, this is the ideal fixture for City to mount an immediate response if can be more organised and controlled across the pitch, whilst bringing more intensity and composure to their attack.
Rodri though is a massive loss in midfield following his move to Barcelona, so the early part of this season is going to be about adaption and evolution for City under Maresca, but they will still be expected to challenge for titles this season – even if the domestic cups look their best hope again.
Bournemouth certainly clicked in the second half of last season with their 18-match unbeaten run during which they often had to grind out draws, but the fact that they achieved that despite knowing Andoni Iraola was leaving is more impressive but Rose faces a tough debut test.
Throw in injury issues at Bournemouth and this is going to be a real eye-opener for Rose but the fact that he was announced in April as Iraola’s successor is a positive, as there would of likely been some transitory work which has already shown in pre-season with 22 goals.
I am therefore expecting a competitive battle and if Bournemouth can pick up where they ended last season, I can see them snatching a point.
Prediction: Man City 1-1 Bournemouth
Result: Man City 2-1 Bournemouth
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