Man City take on Bournemouth in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, and it could be a game where Pep Guardiola needs to do bit of shuffling to the side.
Manchester City are in FA Cup action on Sunday afternoon where they take on Bournemouth in a quarter-final clash on the south coast, with the FA Cup now the only piece of silverware that Pep Guardiola can pick up during the regular season.
Last time out, Man City drew 2-2 with Brighton in a game where City took the lead twice, whilst Bournemouth lost their last game 2-1 at home to Brentford in the Premier League.
In the table, City sit in 5th and only four points ahead of Bournemouth in 10th. The race for 4th could completely change in the final nine games of the season and this season could either finish on a strong note for City, or on a not-so-strong note.
Expect Pep’s Man City XI to face Bournemouth to be strong, especially with a home game against Leicester City coming up in midweek, before the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on April 6th.
Photo by Dave Howarth - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Dave Howarth – CameraSport via Getty Images
Man City handed Josko Gvardiol boost ahead of Bournemouth
The March international break has sprung up some fitness concerns for Pep. Speaking to the press ahead of the Bournemouth game, he says that some of his players have returned a bit leggy, with Ederson an injury concern having not featured against Brighton last time out, though Pep says he’s trained the last two days.
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Elsewhere, Josko Gvardiol was on duty with Croatia during the break. But the City full-back was thought to have picked up a bit of a hamstring injury although Pep made no indication of this in his presser – Gvardiol played a full 90 against France and then 106 minutes in a second leg against the French as Croatia were knocked out of the Nations League.
But Man City posted some training pictures on X on Friday with Gvardiol featuring in one of them, suggesting that he might be fit and ready to play against Bournemouth
Chris Sutton’s Bournemouth vs Man City score prediction
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Chris Sutton gave his Bournemouth vs Man City score prediction, predicting a hard-fought 3-2 win for the Cityzens, although he thinks they’ll need extra time to get past the Cherries.
Sutton explained: “This is such a difficult tie to call… Pep always takes the FA Cup seriously anyway, and he has shown that by reaching the semi-finals for each of the past six seasons – something no other team had done before.
“Will City make it to the last four again? Yes… but only just. Bournemouth are so good with their press that they won’t allow City to easily play out from the back – there are going to be plenty of goals, and I can see it being settled in extra-time.”
With Gvardiol seemingly fit to feature, it certainly boosts City’s chances of a win, given that Pep has no other out and out left-back to call upon.
But he won’t want extra time. His players are already weary from the international break and a 120-minute game against Bournemouth won’t make matters any better, especially ahead of a must-win game against Leicester City and then the crunch match against Manchester United coming up.
The game against Bournemouth kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday. For information on how to watch, click here.