After two disappointing results in their opening two games, Bournemouth will be hoping the game against one of the best teams in the league can spur them on to a good performance. Worse than that for Bournemouth, they haven’t scored a goal yet and will be desperate to put that right. Manchester City have picked up a win and a draw in their opening two games and once again this season they look to have an abundance of attacking options.
Premier League – Dean Court, Bournemouth – Saturday 26 August – 12:30 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 4 at Coral |
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Bournemouth
Manchester CityBournemouth can be a tricky place to visit, but with the home team not at their best right now, Manchester City will head there with hope they can bring three points home.
Head to Head
Bournemouth Form
Bournemouth will be hoping to finish in the top half of the table this season once again, although they will need to pick up their recent form if they are to do that. I was happy to forgive them their opening day defeat at West Brom, a tough place to play, but last weekend they didn’t really have any excuses at home to Watford.
Bournemouth certainly have the ability in their team to improve and I am sure that eventually they will do over the coming games before settling in and targeting the top half of the table. One thing they will want to do against Manchester City, regardless of whether they win or not is to score in this game, something they haven’t done yet.
We have not seen the best of Bournemouth yet, but hopefully this big game can bring out some improvement and they can find some form over the coming weeks.
Manchester City Form
Manchester City have shown great attacking qualities so far this season and yet again they look sure to score a lot of goals and be fun to watch. Even their full backs are very attacking and if they get on top they have so many players who can create chances and that makes them very tough to stop.
Despite going down to 10 men in the first half, City battled well to get a point from their game against Everton on Monday and that was pleasing to see. They controlled their away game against Brighton, putting a ton of pressure on the Premier League newcomers before making that count and winning 2-0.
It has been a pretty good start for Manchester City and one they will be looking to build upon and bag themselves another away win in this game.
Team News
Bournemouth have a great striking option in Jermain Defoe, who they signed on a free transfer from Sunderland last season. They are yet to score a goal this season and in both games Defoe has come on from the bench, surely he has to start in this game. He knows how to score at this level and will be a valuable asset for Bournemouth going forward.
With Kyle Walker banned it is likely that Danilo will take his place. With an abundance of attacking talent, Manchester City have a lot of different players to choose from. Raheem Sterling scored the equaliser on Monday night after coming off the bench so that may be enough for him to start in this game, we will see.
Top Betting Tips
The majority of people will be focusing on Manchester City in this game and rightly so, but Bournemouth are an intriguing team right now. Bournemouth are much better than they have shown us so far, and surely they are going to come good at some point. With Jermain Defoe highly likely to come into the starting line up, they have a fresh attacking option who knows where the back of the net is. This season he is going to be key for them and hopefully he can bag a goal soon for them.
However, with the way Bournemouth have started this season and the attacking options Manchester City have, I cannot look past a victory for Manchester City in this game. With little value in the normal betting market, I am going to choose a correct score bet for this game.
I do think that Bournemouth will score a goal in this game, so I am going to back Manchester City to win the game 3/1, which is available at 10/1 with Ladbrokes and William Hill. City have a lot of attacking players, who look sure to cause Bournemouth problems, especially because they haven’t started the season too well. I am backing a comfortable Manchester City win in this one.