Written by BillyTheKid
Both Teams On Long Unbeaten Runs
AFCB have two games to try and secure a place in Europe next season. They are both tough games against sides in form. The first game is at home against Manchester City, who are still challenging Arsenal for the league title. This is an evening game on Tuesday at 7.30 pm. The game is live on Sky.
AFC Bournemouth v Manchester City
AFCB Win
AFCB Win
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Draw
Draw
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Man City Win
Man City Win
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This is our last home game and the last game our home fans will see Andoni Iraola in the Dean Court dugout. In his three seasons as our manager, he and his style of football have been a revelation. He has seen club record after club record set/broken in his time at our club, and he could be the first Cherries manager to take us into Europe. Let’s hope our fans give him a good send-off; he really deserves it.
We have beaten Manchester City once, and that was at home. The game this time is very important for both sides to get the points, and will be a tense and hopefully ‘party’ atmosphere for our fans. Both AFCB and City are unbeaten, AFCB in 16 games since January 7th, and City are unbeaten in 14 since January 24th.
Since our away game against them last November, away, City have won 7, drawn 4, lost 2. At home, they have won 10, drawn 3, lost 0.
The last time Manchester City visited, it was a memorable occasion, as it was the first time our team had beaten City. Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring for the Cherries in the 9th minute, and that was the only goal in the first half. AFCB went 2-0 up 19 minutes into the second half, with Evanilson the scorer. With 8 minutes of normal time to be played, City got a goal back through Josko Gvardiol, but it was too late to stop the Cherries from taking all three points.
In all our home games against Manchester City, AFCB have W 1, D 1, L 9.
All competitions against Manchester City, AFCB have W 1, D 2, L 22.
AFCB Team News
Lewis Cook could be back in the squad for this game. Ryan Christie is suspended, and no updated news on Alex Jimenez.
AFCB Player To Watch
Adrien Truffert has been having a good season with consistent performances. It will be interesting to see him and our old player, Antoine Semenyo, pitting their wits against each other. Rayan has scored 3 goals (including coming on as a substitute) and an assist in his last four games.
Manchester City Team News
Seems they have no injuries now, unless there have been any problems since the Cup Final.
Manchester City Player To Watch
Jeremy Doku has been in very good form in recent games out on the left wing and has scored 4 goals and an assist in his last 5 league games he has started. Another player is their and the Premier League leading scorer, Erling Haaland. He has scored 4 goals and an assist in his last 4 league games; he has 26 goals and 8 assists so far this season. Our fans will be watching Antoine Semenyo on his return to Dean Court. Rayan Cherki has the most City assists with 12 in the league.
The Referee
Anthony Taylor is in charge of this game. We had him for our two away games against Liverpool and Manchester City, and home against Aston Villa.
Matt Stevenson added
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Man City. They had two home games (Brentford and Palace) and two away games Burnley and Everton). Man City gained 10 points, which could be a favourable return as the xG suggests Everton had the better chances. The xG value for goals scored is 9.54, compared with 10 actual goals, which is about par. Man City have conceded 3 goals with xGc estimating 4.62 goals, which is an overperformance.
Goals Xg.jpg
Man City have had 5 goal scorers (Haaland and Doku with 3 each and Marmoush with 2, Semenyo and Savinho with 1 each) with assists from 6 players, Foden and Cherki with 2 each.
The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. Man City play heavily in the opponents’ half, leaving a lot of space behind if the opposition is good enough to counterattack at pace.
Av Pos.jpg
The following plot compares the summary stats of Man City and AFCB over the last 4 games. Attacking statistics are in Man City’s favour, particularly goal attempts, although the gains in the others are less marked. Defensively, it is fairly even, although Man City concede less attempts.
Comparison.png
AFCB have less possession and a lower pass completion percentage, which is unsurprising against Guardiola’s City. The proportion of chances created from set pieces is similar, although. AFCB have conceded a higher proportion from set pieces.
Percentages.png
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DJ
I have been a writer and website administrator on the largest AFC Bournemouth fan website for almost 25 years. Previously on a now defunct fan network and since 2005 on vitalfootball.co.uk We have been nominated for various fan website awards down the years, however we have always been the bridesmaid…