…OR will we ‘put the league to bed’ on Sunday (all typed and released before Arsenal play their game against Forest on Saturday evening ahead of our fixture and, therefore, it might not matter anyway 🤞).
v Chelsea
 |
| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 11/11)
A very fluid 3-2-4-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Haaland____________________
Grealish___________________________________Silva
_________Gundogan___________De Bruyne_________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Akanji____________________________________Walker
____________Dias_______________Stones__________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Laporte, Phillips, Foden, Palmer, Mahrez & Alvarez.
‘Go again’? Why not? Although, once more, this [the starting line-up] could-well depend on-how Arsenal’s game ‘plays out’ the day before.
Having listened to the first half of our manager’s pre-match press conference, he appears totally focused on wanting us to win this one for ourselves; in front of our own fans and before any thoughts of games to come…and rightly so.
So…Ederson to start in net once more.
An interchangeable back-3 / 4 of Manuel, Ruben, John & Kyle.
Rodders to test his powers of recovery & stamina once again as our deepest-lying midfielder, while Jack, Ilkay, Kevin & Bernardo probe our visitor’s defence ahead of the Spaniard.
Erling, ahead of all of those, will be hoping to find the back of the net after a whopping 4 games without a goal. Bloody rubbish… 😊
Stefan is the back-up keeper; Sergio, Rico & Aymeric are the defenders on the side. Kalvin, Phil, Cole & Riyad are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’, while Julian is the reserve striker. If we find ourselves in a comfortable lead on or around the 65-minute mark, I’d expect us to start introducing a fair number of subs over the following 20 minutes or so.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- Nathan Ake – I both prepared and released this blog-posting after Pep’s first half, pre-match press conference but before the release of the embargoed section (usually around 10:30pm the night before the game). In that first section, there were no questions from any journalist about the availability, or otherwise, of our players. Therefore, I’m simply going to assume that the club are still nurturing The Dutch international back to health following a second flare-up of his hamstring issue in recent weeks.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Our visitors are, generally speaking, a discombobulated mess; a side packed with talent – and we must be wary of that – but who appear far from being a unified team.
However, after a terrible run on the back of an appalling season by their standards; they have managed to ‘stop the rot’ in their last couple of matches; with a win followed by a draw. That being said, they were against sides (AFC Bournemouth away and Forest at home) that you’d expect them to get something from.
Raheem Sterling is no longer ‘top of the league’ (I’m expecting a song about that, South Stand fans) but he, and his teammates, could pose a threat or two. Regardless of that, I’d be a little shocked to say the least if we didn’t win this encounter. I’m going for a home victory.
Champions!
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Draw
Result: Won
Solidarity
No comments:
Post a Comment