Manchester City will try to overcome midweek Carabao Cup ‘disappointment’ as they take on Bournemouth on the south coast in the Premier League on Saturday.
Neither Pep Guardiola nor his players seemed particularly concerned about their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on Wednesday, with City’s premature cup exit easing their fixture load amid a hugely demanding 2024/25 schedule.
The league leaders head into Saturday’s clash with a mountain of injuries and face a side that beat Arsenal 2-0 in their previous outing at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth had endured an indifferent start to the campaign before they sank the ten-man Gunners and Andoni Iraola’s side followed that up with a useful point at Aston Villa last weekend.
The Cherries are now up to 11th in the Premier League table and searching for their first-ever win over the Cityzens at the 22nd attempt.
The visitors are not in a good moment on the injury front. Their woes worsened in midweek when Savinho was stretchered off in City’s cup defeat to Tottenham with a suspected ankle injury.
Manuel Akanji also pulled up ahead of the game, but the Swiss defender is expected to be fit for Saturday’s clash. Erling Haaland will also return to the XI having been rested on Wednesday.
City are without Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku for the trip down to the south coast. Rodri and Oscar Bobb are long-term absentees.
Man City lineup: (3-4-2-1): Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Stones, Kovacic; Bernardo, Gundogan, Foden, Nunes; Haaland.
