Man City vs Bournemouth Preview: Team News & Prediction

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Manchester City are beginning a new era in the 2026-27 Premier League season as they welcome AFC Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium on the opening day of the campaign.

Kick-off date/time: 23 August 2026 at 2:00 pm

How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / USA – USA Network

How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / USA – Telemundo

Man City preview: The new City

For the first time since May 2016, Manchester City are managed by someone that isn’t Pep Guardiola. Former Leicester City and Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, once an assistant to Guardiola at City, is now at the helm at the Etihad.

As well as the departure of their legendary manager, City have also seen both John Stones and Bernardo Silva depart the club with something of a changing of the guard that did begin a year or so earlier with the influx of younger talent, such as Abdukodir Khusanov, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki through their spine.

The Maresca-era has started badly with City hammered by Arsenal by three goals to nil in the Community Shield at the Millennium Stadium.

Bournemouth preview: Change at Bournemouth

AFC Bournemouth are themselves going through a change. Andoni Iraola announced his departure for the end of the season in April and the now Liverpool boss has been replaced by former Borussia Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig boss Marco Rose.

The Cherries, with the BlackKnight Group as their owners, have proven themselves to be more than capable of withstanding change, and even improving after the departures of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, Illya Zabarnyi and Dango Ouattara last summer, as well as Antoine Semenyo to City in the winter. They still managed to finish as high as sixth, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League and narrowly missing out on UEFA Champions League football.

Man City team news: Change to their squad

2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri has now joined Barcelona and he missed the Community Shield due to injury, while the supposedly ill Savinho is said to be close to joining Tottenham Hotspur with Omar Marmoush also potentially departing, having suffered a slight injury issue after the Community Shield.

Key winger Jeremy Doku also begins the season as an injury absentee due to a calf issue, while it also looks unlikely that Matheus Nunes will be available for the opener.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly; Kovacic, Anderson, Foden; Semenyo, Haaland, Cherki

Unavailable: Doku (Injured)

Questionable: Nunes (Injured), Savinho (Illness), Marmoush (Fitness)

Man City’s top FPL assets

Nico O'Reilly (£6.5m) – Defender

Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) – Midfielder

Erling Haaland (£15.5m) – Forward

Gameweek 1 captain pick: Erling Haaland

Bournemouth team news: Alvaro a doubt

Having signed for a relatively sizeable fee this summer, Uruguayan striker Alvaro Rodriguez is a doubt for the opening day but key defensive midfielder Tyler Adams has been passed fit.

Bournemouth have kept hold of some key men such as Alex Scott and Rayan but another of their prized assets, Eli Junior Kroupi, is set to miss a fair chunk of the campaign due to an ankle injury that required surgery in late-July.

Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Smith, Silva, Diakite, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Rayan, Kluivert, Tavernier; Evanilson

Unavailable: Milosavljevic (Injured), Araujo (Injured), Christie (Suspended), Adli (Injured), Kroupi (Injured)

Questionable: Soler (Injured), Juanlu (Fitness), Brooks (Injured), Alvaro (Injured)

Bournemouth’s top FPL assets

Adrien Truffert (£5.5m) – Defender

Rayan (£6.5m) – Midfielder

Evanilson (£6.0m) – Forward

Gameweek 1 captain pick: Rayan

Man City vs Bournemouth prediction

As was the case with both Chelsea and Leicester City, Enzo Maresca’s early football can be quite exhilarating and attacking before he finally gets a hold of things and works out a way of being able to balance that with control, both to positive and negative effects. Bournemouth will continue to play with an Iraola-like high-press with Rose now at the helm and that will again be the case no matter who their opposition is so a high-scoring encounter seems a decent bet for this one in Manchester on Sunday afternoon.

Man City vs Bournemouth tip: Over 2.5 goals