Previewing The Game: Cherry Picking Pep.

Manchester City head back to the coast this weekend as Pep Guardiola's side face Bournemouth in Saturday's early kick-off. With four points from the opening two games, City will be able to go top, for a few moments at least, with a win at the Vitality Stadium. 

City certainly enjoy the spoils from the fixture, as I had mentioned in a previous article, with City to still suffer a single defeat in all competitions against the Cherries. Last season, in this fixture, City ran out 2-0 winners, but a lot has changed in the six months since. 

Bournemouth have signed Jermaine Defoe, who may be a starter having played the full match midweek. Coming back from a groin strain Eddie Howe had rested him in the first two games and will most likely feature at some point with the visit of City. He enjoys scoring against us it seems.

Howe will be without Simon Francis (hamstring), Junior Stanislas (groin) and Callum Wilson (knee) while City have their own concerns. Of course Kyle Walker will be missing through suspension and fans look to get their first glimpse of Benjamin Mendy, while the game could come to soon for Ilkay Gundogan. 

How City will line up is anyone's guess, with Pep liable to spring a surprise. Raheem Sterling loves playing against the Cherries, scoring five in a City shirt. That includes the hat-trick in 2015 and so that may put a thought in Pep's head.

Pep isn't too impressed with personal records though and so, even though Sergio Aguero has scored in seven successive away Premier League appearances, it may not be enough to get the nod. Another two in two and he joins the record holder.

Watching the game against Everton, Sergio Aguero was guilty of missing a few chances. It was the Brazilian, Jesus, who was sacrificed when the red card forced a change. With Pep naming both in the starting lineup are they facing the competition for their spot many other positions are?   

Before I get to my thoughts on the lineup let's look at Bournemouth. Having played two games, they find themselves yet to get points on the board, or even on the score-sheet. In their opening game, away to West Brom, they played a 4-4-1-1 formation, with King playing just behind Afobe. Despite having just over 71% possession they only managed two shots on goal from nine attempts. 

It was a similar story when they welcomed Watford to the Vitality Stadium. Howe going with that 4-4-1-1 they again had only two shots on goal from six attempts, although they shared possession  stats with the home side with 56%. 

With that in mind I would like to see City change it up a bit, with the starting lineup looking like this (squad number order):

 3) Danilo.

 5) Stones.

 7) Sterling.

17) DeBruyne.

19) Sane.

20) Bernardo.

21) D. Silva

30) Otamendi.

31) Ederson.

33) Jesus.

Ederson in goal, obviously, with Stones and Otamendi as a back two. Fernandinho just in front of them, and can slip into a a back three, or left back, if needed. We should spend the majority of the game in the Bournemouth half so I have put Sane as left wing back, Danilo on the right. Danilo will overlap with Sterling on the right who can rotate with Bernardo Silva. Meanwhile David Silva and DeBruyne can rotate on that left side and Sane overlapping. Up front I have gone with Jesus purely because he was taken off halfway through the last game. 

With Liverpool next up I wanted to save him, Kompany and Mendy for then. If we needed more fire power then bringing on Aguero is not a bad option. Mendy can also come on for the last twenty or so in an ideal scenario to get up to speed after a very expensive Nando's!