When Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola selects his first team tomorrow at the Vitality Stadium, where his side will clash with AFC Bournemouth, he’ll have a multitude of options in various positions groups. Guardiola was asked yesterday, at his Friday press conference, if this is the deepest and most talented squad that he has ever had.
While acknowledging the depth and talent of this 2019-20 team, he said that all of the teams he’s had since he moved to Manchester from Bayern Munich in 2016 have had extreme quality.
In constructing the starting XI below, we came up with an extremely strong side, but still left out so much quality that is currently on the roster. The two most expensive players in Manchester City history are not in this first team prediction; ditto for some talented players in both midfield and attack.
That’s just how strong and deep this City team really is.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at AFC Bournemouth
Raheem Sterling Sergio Aguero Bernardo Silva
David Silva Fernandinho Kevin De Bruyne
Oleksandr Zinchenko Nicolas Otamendi Aymeric Laporte Kyle Walker
Ederson
Manchester City at AFC Bournemouth FYIs
Team News for both sides: go to this link
Kickoff: Sunday, August 25, 2pm, Vitality Stadium
Odds: Manchester City 3/14, Draw 7/1, Bournemouth 17/1
Pep Guardiola Friday News Conference Video:
Match Official: Andre Marriner
Score prediction: Manchester City 3, AFC Bournemouth 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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