Eddie Howe saw his backline crumble as Bournemouth suffered a massive defeat against the Everton last week. Things are unlikely to improve this week too, as the Cherries get set to welcome Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City who shares a brilliant record against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The Sky Blues have never lost a league game to Bournemouth in any competition, winning seven and drawing two in their last nine fixtures. The Cherries have conceded 13 goals in three Premier League fixtures, which includes a four-goal thrashing in the reverse fixture last year.
To make thing worse, Bournemouth have lost all three Premier League this season that took place on Monday, where they have failed to score even once. On the other hand, City have won 10 of their 13 games playing on Monday.
Although Howe’s side will definitely not go into the fixture as the favourites, the boss knows City’s tendency to bottle matches if not given enough liberty in the attacking third.
Defence
Artur Boruc will continue to take his position. The Polish goalie had a nightmare outing against Everton, conceding five goals, and he will be hoping not to repeat a similar feat against the likes of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.
Bournemouth’s back line has been crippled by injuries. Charlie Daniels didn’t start the last game against Everton as he remains sidelined by a hamstring injury. We expect Howe to continue with his three at the back setup with Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Tyrone Mings taking the three centre-half roles. It is safe to say that Howe has struggled to find a player to replace Nathan Ake and Daniels’ injury has further exacerbated the situation.
Midfield
Midfield was almost non-existent in the last game against the Toffees and Howe will expect his players to slow the game in the middle of the park at every opportunity when playing Manchester City. Guardiola likes to play with flair and if the smooth movement is disrupted, the Citizens have been found struggling to pose any real threat.
Howe deployed Andrew Surman and Dan Gosling as the holding midfielders and we expect him to stick with the duo. The two can also break forward and play the box-to-box roles and will undoubtedly require unparalleled stamina to keep up with City’s pace throughout the game. Jack Wilshere started with Harry Arter as the playmakers for Howe. The duo have the potential to do some real damage up front as we saw in the game against Everton.
Attack
Marc Pugh and Ryan Fraser will start as wing-backs and will have a crucial task balancing the attack and the defence. Joshua King is expected to spearhead the attack. After scoring a brace in the last game, he will be high on confidence.
King
Wilshere – Arter
Pugh – Gosling – Surman – Fraser
Francis – Cook – Mings
Boruc
