When Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola selects his first team Saturday at the Vitality Stadium, where his side will clash with AFC Bournemouth, he’ll have a limited number of options in various position groups. They are in full blow injury crisis mode, with Pep summating the situation thusly:
“I think when we are in trouble like we are — because in nine years, I’ve never in this situation had this many injuries for this many reasons — in these situations, the players make a step forward.”
However, he also added the following: “They are more together than ever.”
Manchester City at AFC Bournemouth FYIs
Man City Preview Material: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Kickoff: Saturday, November 2, 3pm, Vitality Stadium
Result Probability: Manchester City 61%, Draw 21%, Bournemouth 18%
Premier League Standing Manchester City 1st, 23 pts AFC Bournemouth 11th, 12 pts
In constructing the starting XI below, we tried to come up with the strongest side that we could, but so much of their quality on the roster, is just not available right now. Maybe they should have been more active in this past summer’s transfer window?
It kind of feels like the headlines this past summer were more about subtractions than additions.
It’s coming back to hurt them now.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at AFC Bournemouth
Erling Haaland
Bernardo Silva Phil Foden Matheus Nunes
Mateo Kovacic Ilkay Gundogan
Josko Gvardiol John Stones Ruben Dias Rico Lewis
Ederson
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.