New Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola will be hoping for a positive start to life in the Premier League when his team play host to Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.
In the opposite dugout, David Moyes makes a return to the North-West in his first game back in England's top flight, and he will be under no illusions as to the task that faces his players when they take on big-spending City.
Manchester City
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It has been several years in the making but this weekend, Guardiola finally makes an appearance in a Premier League dugout as he looks to get the first win of many on the board as City hope to make a challenge for the Premier League title.
The second half of last season was somewhat overshadowed by the news that Guardiola would be replacing Manuel Pellegrini in the summer, and that announcement ultimately hindered City's performance in the league as they won just six of their remaining 15 games.
It left the club scraping for a top-four finish and Champions League qualification but after edging out rivals Manchester United, there is every expectation that City will spend the foreseeable future in the top two or three spots in the standings.
Guardiola has made every attempt to ensure that is the case by spending £150m in the transfer market, and the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Leroy Sane and John Stones will only improve City's chances of glory in all four competitions.
City have been handed a relatively tough start to the Premier League with an away trip to Stoke City being followed by home clashes with West Ham United and neighbours Manchester United, and it heightens the importance of getting off to a winning start on Saturday.
After trophy-laden spells in Spain and Germany, Guardiola will be eager to set his stall out from the first whistle, and while it is only the first match of the campaign, he cannot really afford to drop any points against a team who are still in transition since Moyes's arrival.
Recent form: LDL
Sunderland
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After Sam Allardyce guided them to survival last season, it appeared that Sunderland finally had a chance to lay the foundations for the future under a manager who was relishing the opportunity given to him at the Stadium of Light but in what is fast becoming a tradition at the club, circumstances led to another boss departing the North-East less than a year after taking the job.
However, if the words of owner Ellis Short are to be taken at face value, the eventual arrival of Moyes has been inevitable for some time and the Black Cats hierarchy feel like they have finally attracted a manager who will not only remain at the club for years rather than months, but one that can start to move the team back up the Premier League standings.
Moyes takes over with a tainted reputation having endured testing times at both Manchester United and Real Sociedad, but his hugely successful time at Everton should not be forgotten and if he is given time to build his own squad, everyone associated with the club will expect them to be knocking on the door of the top half of the table sooner rather than later.
That said, fans of Sunderland should not get ahead of themselves. In eight of the last nine campaigns, they have finished 13th or lower and the work that is required at the club is not going to happen overnight.
Moyes has started reshaping his team with the acquisitions of Papy Djilobodji, Paddy McNair and Donald Love, but the upheaval will continue until the final hours of the transfer window and for now, Moyes must use the players that he has got to deal with a trip to City and the eagerly-anticipated derby with Middlesbrough next weekend.
Recent form: WWWWDD
Team News
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Guardiola has suggested that he will give Stones an immediate debut in defence, but Sane will miss out having not trained with the first-team squad.
The club's new coach has insisted that he has yet to decide on his starting lineup, but Nolito could be handed his Premier League bow in attack alongside David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
The selection of Lamine Kone remains up in the air after the defender handed in a transfer request, but Moyes has insisted that the player will be offered a new deal and remain with the Black Cats.
Sebastian Larsson has been ruled out for six months, but Adnan Januzaj, McNair and Love are all in the squad after completing moves from Manchester United.
Moyes also revealed that Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchoff and Billy Jones are sidelined for the trip to the Etihad.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Hart; Sagna, Stones, Fernando, Clichy; Fernandinho, Delph; Sterling, Silva, Nolito; Aguero
Sunderland possible starting lineup:
Mannone, Kaboul, Djilobodji, Kone, Van Aanholt, McNair, Rodwell, Borini Januzaj, Khazri, Defoe
Head To Head
Saturday's fixture represents the 144th time that these two teams have met in a competitive fixture, with City prevailing 68 times in comparison to 50 victories for Sunderland.
Since the start of 2014, it was been one-way traffic in City's favour with six wins and one draw being registered in seven outings and you have to go back much further for the last Sunderland win in Manchester.
That came all the way back in the second tier in 1998, meaning that the North-East outfit have never won a game at the Etihad Stadium.
We say: Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
This is the perfect opening match for Guardiola and City's player to showcase their ability and we expect them to make light work of the Black Cats. Guardiola may protect a couple of players for Tuesday's Champions League clash in Romania but whoever features at the weekend should have enough quality to comfortably secure all three points.
Darren Plant
