Coach Enzo Maresca surprised by keeping attacking players like Jack Grealish and Cherki on the bench. Instead, he arranged for Rico Lewis and O'Reilly to play in midfield, alongside Anderson. In attack, Man "xanh" used Foden and Semenyo to support Haaland.
With a rather strange squad, Man City still played overwhelmingly against the opponent in the first half. In the 3rd minute, they almost scored the first goal of the match when Foden quickly passed to Lewis to run down, but his shot was blocked by the Bournemouth goalkeeper.
In the 13th minute, the Etihad home team again had a good opportunity to score. O'Reilly crossed the ball favorably from the left wing but star Erling Haaland unfortunately missed the header.
Unable to score from good opportunities, Man City had to pay the price. In the 26th minute, Bournemouth took advantage of the poor coordination of the home team's defenders to score to take the lead. The scorer was Tavernier, after a tap-in from Evanilson's pass.
This was also the final score of the first half, although afterwards both teams created some dangerous opportunities for Haaland and Justin Kluivert.
In the second half, coach Enzo Maresca changed a series of personnel when Nunes, Kovacic, Cherki came on. The Etihad home team created some good chances such as Guehi or Semenyo could not make a difference.
Bournemouth have lost to Man City in all 9 away matches in the Premier League before. But in this match, they played very solidly, alertly and focused.
In addition to discouraging the home team's strikers, coach Marco Rose's team is also very dangerous in quick attacks or set pieces.
In the final minutes, Man City brought Jack Grealish onto the field. The home team increased the pressure and finally was rewarded in the 85th minute, when Marc Guehi headed dangerously to equalize 1-1 after Cherki's corner kick. In the 90+2 minute, Man City completed the comeback when Gvardiol scored after Cherki's delicate pass.
In the end, Man City made a spectacular comeback to defeat Bournemouth 2-1 at home. This result helped coach Enzo Maresca have his first victory in the Premier League season 2026-2027.
