Overview
Manchester City has just gone through a very bad period. In round 36, they were held to a 0-0 draw by the relegation zone side Southampton despite having 80% possession, and showed a deadlock.
In the FA Cup final, Pep Guardiola's side were beaten by Crystal Palace, their first season without a trophy since the 2016-17 campaign.
In the Premier League, their opponents for the Champions League have won all, thereby pushing Man City down to 6th place. This is a position that will only qualify for the Europa League next season.
With a poor form, even though they only met Bournemouth, The Citizens were not allowed to be subjective. Some teams have known how to curb Guardiola's troops.
Meanwhile, the problem of counter-attacking is still a difficult problem for Man City. Without Rodri, their midfield is more fragile than ever.
The loss to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final was a typical situation. Therefore, although Bournemouth have run out of goals and are rated lower than Man City, they are still capable of getting points.
Bournemouth is a team with an extremely uncomfortable counter-attacking defense style of play. Many big teams have had trouble against this style of play of the team led by Iraola.
In the 2 meetings this season, each team has had 1 win. That shows that Bournemouth is not an easy opponent to bully by Man City. If they do not improve their form soon, the possibility of Man City losing points against Bournemouth is very high. In case of victory, it is likely to be only the minimal result.
Personnel situation
Man City will not have the services of Mateo Kovacic, Rodri, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and John Stones due to injury problems.
On the other side of the front line, Bournemouth will also be without Alex Scott, Enes Unal, Ryan Christie, Dango Ouattara and Luis Sinisterra for the same reason.
Expected lineup:
Man City: Ederson, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Gonzalez, Gundogan, Savinho, De Bruyne, Marmoush, Haaland.
Bournemouth: Kepa, Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez, Cook, Adams, Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier, Evanilson.
The match between Man City and Bournemouth takes place at 2:00 am on May 21 (Vietnam time).
