After a VAR-marred draw against Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City will look to get back to winning ways when they face Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Sky Blues will now embark on a favourable run of fixtures up until November when they have to face arch-rivals, Liverpool. And Pep will want to make full use of the rub of green, fixture wise, he has been afforded.
City will be confident heading into this fixture having won their last 8 Premier League away games keeping a clean sheet in 6 of them. But Bournemouth are on an identical number of points (4) after 2 matches this season and will fancy themselves to cause an upset.
EARLY TEAM NEWS
Leroy Sane is a long-term absentee while Benjamin Mendy is still weeks away from action. John Stones had a muscular problem and more will be known on him in Pep’s press conference.
Oleksandr Zinchenko had cramps in the game against Spurs but is expected to be fit to be available for selection.
PREDICTED MANCHESTER CITY LINEUP vs BOURNEMOUTH (4-3-3)
DEFENCE
Ederson was out of position for Eric Lamela’s goal and needs to be more aware despite having a flawless game with the ball at his feet.
We foresee a change in defence with Joao Cancelo raring to make his debut but it might not be in his preferred right-back spot.
Kyle Walker has had an impressive start to the season and is likely to continue on the right but Joao Cancelo could be in line for a debut at left-back if there are any question marks over Zinchenko’s fitness.
Nicolas Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte will start once again as the centre-back pairing.
MIDFIELD
Rodri is expected to start in deep midfield though Fernandinho will soon push him for a place in the team. The new signing has been decent but is still not operating at full capacity, which is expected.
Kevin de Bruyne is an automatic starter in midfield but there could be a toss-up between David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan for the other spot.
Alternatively, Pep could go with a more attacking outlook and select Bernardo Silva in central midfield.
ATTACK
Raheem Sterling looks to be a nailed-on starter on the left-flank while Riyad Mahrez might be afforded a start on the right.
Gabriel Jesus has looked sharp when he has played and could take Aguero’s place up top.
