Manchester City v Bournemouth: The Opposition

Manchester City welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as the blues aim to keep pace with leaders Spurs at the top of the table. The champions will still be on a high after claiming bragging rights in Sunday’s Manchester derby, with a comprehensive 3-0 win at Old Trafford, while Bournemouth claimed their first win of the season at home to Burnley.

Form

It’s probably not the best time for a team like Bournemouth, fourth from bottom, with one win and six defeats to their record this season, to be playing City away.

The Cherries have an away record that is marginally better than bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United. They have lost three and drawn one of their four matches on the road, scored just four goals and conceded 11 so far this season.

From those four games, they lost 3-1 at Liverpool and Brighton, whilst also losing 3-0 at Everton. The only point they have collected on their travels was a 2-2 at Brentford. And, after playing in midweek while City had a chance to rest, Bournemouth’s chances of picking anything up at City will have reduced considerably.

Add to that, the fact that Bournemouth have never beaten City can be taken as a bad omen for the visitors.

Danger Men

Despite their status near the bottom of the table, Bournemouth have still scored 14 goals this season, five of which have been scored by Dominic Solanke. The striker has had 29 shots on target, the most in the Bournemouth side but, having played in all of Bournemouth’s 13 games this season, his goal conversion rate is just 17%.

David Brooks and Antoine Semenyo have two each, while Justin Kluivert, Ryan Christie, Phillip Billing, Hamed Traore and Joe Rothwell and Bournemouth’s other scorers this season, all with one each.

Christie and Billing have created the most chances in the Bournemouth side with 12 each, with Billing creating 12, however, each have only seen one of those chances converted. Marcos Senesi has attempted the most passes with 428, 346 of which have been successful.

The Boss

Andoni Iraola is the man tasked with keeping Bournemouth in the Premier League. The former right back has plied his managerial career in Cyprus, spending a year with AEK Larnaca, before moving back to Spain to manage Mirandes. Three years at Rayo Vallecano was enough to persuade Bournemouth to offer him his first managerial role in England.

He has managed 13 games for Bournemouth, winning three overall and losing seven, giving him a win ratio of just 23%.

Last Time In Manchester

Last season, City cruised to a 4-0 win over the Cherries. Despite preventing Erling Haaland from scoring, goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden gave City a 3-0 half-time lead. In the 79th minute, an own goal by Jefferson Lerma sealed Bournemouth’s fate.