Will we have more Bolywood on Sunday?

Our last 2 league encounters with tomorrow’s visitors have most-definitely been influenced, in one way or another, by Wolves’ central defender, Willy Boly.

The 28-year old 'handballed-in' their only goal at Molineux to earn the home side a well-deserved, otherwise, 1-1 draw and when they came to the Etihad last January, the Frenchman effectively ended the game as a competition by getting sent off after just 19 minutes; a game we ended up winning 3-0.

Will we see more Willy-nilly tomorrow, I wonder…?

v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero____________________

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

___________D. Silva_____________B. Silva_________

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

__________Fernandinho______Otamendi___________

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Bravo, Cancelo, Mendy, Garcia, Foden, Gundogan, Jesus.

Ederson in-between the sticks.

Some rotation again from our last game, I think for this one; with Oleksandr & Kyle getting starting places on the left & right of the defence. However, there should been enough rest time since last Tuesday for Fernandinho to ‘go again’ and should be partnered by Nicolas in-between those.

Rodders ‘the anchor’, while Raheem, David, Bernardo & Riyad make up a frightening creative and attacking quartet (I could be wrong and was leaning towards our manager giving a start to Ilkay and leaving Bernardo in reserve).

Sergio to lead all of those.

Claudio the reserve keeper; Joao, Benjamin and Eric make up defensive replacement backups. Phil, Ilkay (or Bernardo) and Gabriel 'in there' for the more creative / attacking choice-options from the side.

Notable absences:

-       Angelino – Not selected.

-       Aymeric Laporte – Expected return of around March 2020.

-       John Stones – Injured for around another week or more / might be in contention for the next league game in 2-weeks’ time.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Not quite over his groin / hip issue but should be okay for our next league game after the international break, we are told.

-       Leroy Sane – Expected return of around January 2020.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

That’s a strong team, especially from Rodri upwards! I sure do agree with that predicted line-up.

Result? I think it’s fair to say that our visitors have suffered the effects of being victims of themselves; in that last season’s fine performances & results saw them included in this season’s Europa League. Since then, their domestic form - especially in the league - has suffered somewhat.

However, they do have a high work-rate-ethic and players throughout the whole team who can cause damage given the chance...and they have won their last 2 games, albeit at home to struggling Watford before an impressive midweek away win at Besiktas.

But if we’re ‘on our game’, which I fully expect us to be and go with that line-up or similar; I can only see one outcome. In fact, if we match their work rate and are on our TRUE ‘A game’ (a phrase I was compelled to use in my last blog-posting against Wolves, I’ve only just noticed – weird…) I can see this being another big score.

It’s a home win for me.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Win

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Although the rain should start to ease as the referee places his whistle to his lips at 2pm (BST), it will have been raining hard for around 20-hours-straight and, therefore, even our fine pitch could have an effect on the gameplay. Bit of a breeze blowing around too so, for the fans, a warm, shower-proof coat would be wise.