…but a good number of ‘key players’ rested last Wednesday night. 👍🏼
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| Molineux Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3:
___________________Haaland____________________
_Doku__________________________________Foden_
____________________________Alvarez____________
____________Nunes_____________________________
____________________Kovacic____________________
Gvardiol__________________________________Walker
____________Ake_______________Dias_____________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Carson, Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Akanji, Phillips, Bobb & Grealish.
Back to league action and, therefore, Ederson reclaims the gloves.
A more-familiar looking backline to consist of Josko, Nathan, Ruben & Kyle.
No insult meant to Kalvin whatsoever in my suggestion that he won’t start as defensive midfielder for this one – I’m going with my gut instincts in that Pep might want to use both the Newcastle & Wolves fixtures to experiment with this role ahead of our clash with Arsenal a week on Sunday. I think Mateo, therefore, might get a chance to showcase his defensive midfield abilities at Molineux this afternoon. Ahead of the Croatian international, I think we’ll see Jeremy, Matheus, who is sure to play the part of pantomime villain as he returns to his former club; where the departure wasn’t exactly…amicable, shall we say, Julian & Phil all providing the attacking / creative work in midfield and on the wings. Jack had neither a bad nor particularly good game on his return in midweek, in my humble – it was his first start since his injury layoff and I just think that his manager might want to ease him back a little slowly…and with Jeremy only having played 22 minutes of normal time last Wednesday, well; there you go.
Erling to return ‘up top’.
Scott & Stefan are two stoppers on the bench; Sergio, Rico & Manuel are our defenders on the side. Kalvin, Oscar & Jack provide midfield / wing options in the 8 from 9 allowed on the bench.
Notable absences:
- John Stones – Making progress, apparently, but training alone for now. Still no specified return date issued.
- Bernardo Silva – Continues to be out with a little, undefined injury and this game comes too early for the Portuguese international’s return.
- Kevin De Bruyne – Recovering from a torn hamstring / surgery. Expected return around December / January.
- Rodri – Suspended for 2 more matches following his ‘straight red’ for violent conduct.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Played 6, won 1, drawn 1, losing 4 in the league and then letting an early 2-goal lead slip in the League Cup against [good] Championship opposition to lose 3-2 doesn’t sound too good at all, does it?
However, we can’t afford any complacency against a side managed by Gary O’Neil; a manager who has built a reputation of making his sides difficult to play against. Additionally, our Saturday afternoon hosts do have form in recent seasons of occasionally giving us a ‘bloody nose’. Although they don’t score bagfuls of goals in the league, they’ve only registered 1 blank and that was away from home in their opening fixture of the season back in mid-August.
For those City players and fans who might have a slight swagger in their step as they approach this game, a few ‘warning signs’ are there to be heeded, in my opinion. Pep, however, didn’t sound complacent at all in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon. Good.
With a good number of players both going out and coming in to our ‘starting 11’ from our last outing and with limited preparation time between fixtures, we might see a little dodgy moment or two early on but regardless of how the match may play out over ‘the 90’, I’m going for a City win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Win
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: After a dry and fairly sunny start to the day in the area, showers start to move in from around 1:00 or 2:00pm. Nothing too wet but it’s likely to give the pitch a bit of ‘zip’. A bit windy, with an average speed of around 10MPH. It remains a southerly breeze, however, so that’ll keep the late September temperature up at around 15C.
Solidarity
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