Preview: Manchester City vs Bournemouth - prediction, team news, lineups

The post-Pep Guardiola era in the Premier League begins for Manchester City on Sunday afternoon as Enzo Maresca’s side welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium for their opening fixture of the 2026-27 season.

The Citizens played out a 1-1 draw with the Cherries in their most recent meeting at the Vitality Stadium in May, a result which confirmed Arsenal as top-flight champions.

Match preview

After 10 glorious, trophy-laden years under Guardiola, Enzo Maresca is the man facing the monumental task of sustaining a relentless winning culture at Man City and steering the club on a high-stakes mission to end their two-season Premier League title drought.

The 46-year-old former Chelsea boss is embracing the challenge at such a “huge organisation” and is “convinced” that his team can “achieve something important” this term, even though a plethora of players including Bernardo Silva, Rodri and John Stones have all departed this summer.

Man City enjoyed FA Cup and EFL Cup success last season, but they have slipped behind newly-formed rivals Arsenal in the top flight and were deservedly beaten 3-0 by the Gunners in last weekend’s Community Shield, with Maresca setting an unwanted record on his managerial debut.

On a positive note, each of Man City’s last four managers has won their first Premier League game in charge, with Mark Hughes back in August 2008 the last to taste defeat (4-2 against Aston Villa).

The eight-time Premier League champions head into Sunday’s contest having won their opening match in 14 of the last 15 top-flight seasons, the exception being a 1-0 loss to Tottenham in 2021-22. Coincidently, Spurs were the only team to beat Man City at home in the PL last season before Aston Villa claimed a 2-1 win in Guardiola’s farewell match at the end of the campaign.

Not since May 2021 have Man City suffered back-to-back home league defeats, but they should be confident of success this weekend as they have prevailed in all nine of their PL home meetings against Bournemouth by an aggregate score of 34-6, netting 3.8 goals per game.

Like Man City, Bournemouth have embarked on a new era under a new manager in the form of Marco Rose, with the former RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund boss succeeding Andoni Iraola at the Vitality Stadium.

The 49-year-old German has inherited a buoyant and resilient Cherries side fresh off a historic sixth-placed finish in the Premier League in which they suffered only seven defeats in 38 games, an impressive feat only bettered by champions Arsenal (five) and Man City (six).

Rose also enters his first season in England backed by the club’s extraordinary 18-match unbeaten league run carried over from the end of last term (W8 D10). However, none of the previous four managers to make their PL debut against Man City made a winning start (D1 L3). The most recent of those did avoid defeat, though, as Calum McFarlane’s Chelsea drew 1-1 at the Etihad in January.

Bournemouth, who have signed three new players so far this summer, enjoyed a largely positive pre-season, winning three of their five friendlies (D1 L1) and scoring a whopping 22 goals in the process, including an eye-catching 10-1 victory over Genoa.

However, the Cherries have won their opening game of a new Premier League season just twice in nine attempts (D3 L4), beating Cardiff City in 2018-19 and Aston Villa in 2022-23, while they have only ever beaten Man City once in 18 top-flight games (D1 L16), winning 2-1 at home in November 2024.

Manchester City pre-season form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Bournemouth pre-season form:

Team News

Man City winger Jeremy Doku has been ruled out for two to three weeks with a calf injury, while Savinho and - most likely - Omar Marmoush will not be involved as they remain in talks to join Tottenham Hotspur.

However, Matheus Nunes is available for selection after missing the Community Shield defeat with a minor muscle problem and could replace Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back, potentially joining Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly in a four-man defence.

In the absence of first-choice left-flanker Doku and with City short of options out wide, Maresca may consider handing a surprise start to Jack Grealish, over 600 days after he last started for the club, while ex-Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo is expected to begin on the right side of attack.

Club-record signing Elliot Anderson is set to make his PL debut for City in centre-midfield, while talismanic striker Erling Haaland will lead the line; the Norwegian has scored seven goals in just four opening-weekend PL matches and has found the net 22 times in just 14 games for the Citizens in August.

As for Bournemouth, last season’s top scorer Eli Junior Kroupi (foot) is ruled out long term, while Amine Adli (calf), Veljko Milosavljevic (knee), Julian Araujo (thigh), David Brooks and Julio Soler (both unspecified) are also sidelined.

Ryan Christie is serving a suspension carried over from last season, so Alex Scott and Lewis Cook are both expected to link arms in centre-midfield, while Rayan, Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier all operate in the final third.

New signings Alvaro Rodriguez and Juanlu Sanchez, as well as Tyler Adams, have all returned to team training, but Rose has revealed some of them “need a little bit more load in training to be an option” for the trip to the Etihad.

However, centre-back Antonio Silva - a £25.7m summer arrival from Benfica - is set to make his PL debut, partnering James Hill in the heart of the defence.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Anderson, Kovacic; Semenyo, Foden, Grealish; Haaland

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Silva, Truffert; Cook, Scott; Rayan, Kluivert, Tavernier; Evalinson

We say: Manchester City 2-1 Bournemouth

Having seen a number of high-profile players leave in recent weeks, Man City's squad looks surprisingly light heading into their season opener and this fixture against Rose's high-energy Bournemouth side is by no means an easy assignment for the Citizens.

However, if goal machine Haaland can hit the ground running once again in attack, the hosts should possess the clinical edge to secure all three points and provide Maresca with a winning start.

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