High demanding Pep versus bogey ground syndrome.

High demanding Pep Guardiola warned his players against eating too much festive goodies after a performance against West Ham United that he wasn’t entirely happy with; despite us keeping a clean sheet and scoring three times.

I only had the radio to listen to the match live whilst away on holiday before watching highlights, reading reports and comparing player ratings from different sources. It sounded mostly good from my perspective but, of course, Pep knows best and must have seen something lacking in the 96-minutes that he witnessed from the touchline.

You have been warned lads…

v Nottingham Forest

City Ground

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our away win at Palace: 10/11.

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Foden________________________________Cherki__

 

_________Silva(C)_________________Reijnders_______

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)__________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma_________________

Subs: Trafford, Lewis, Ake, Khusanov, Mfuni, Gray, Mukasa, Savinho and Heskey.

Gigi continues in goal.

A settled back-4, occasional 3, sees Nico-O- and Matheus on the flanks, with Josko and Ruben in the middle.

Nico-G- sits just in front of those in midfield.

Ahead of the Spaniard is a likely 4 of Phil, Bernardo, Tijjani and Rayan-C-, with Erling up top.

James is reserve keeper; Rico, Nathan, Abdukodir and Stephen make up four defenders on the side. Charlie and Devine are two midfielders in ‘the 9’, while Savinho and Reigan give us two attacking change options from the bench.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Stefan Ortega – Not selected.

-       Rayan Ait-Nouri – Away on international duty.

-       Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.

-       John Stones – On 26th December, Pep said that John still wasn't quite there but would be back soon.️

-       Mateo Kovacic – Recovering from secondary surgery to clean up some calcification in his ankle. Expected return is around February 2026.

-       Rodri – In a pre-match interview conducted with Club Media, our manager believes that there's a chance we could see Rodders in today's matchday squad but there were further tests / observations to make before deciding for sure.

-       Jeremy Doku – For Jeremy, read John.

-       Oscar Bobb – Out with a muscular / hamstring issue. Unknown return date.

-       Omar Marmoush – Away on international duty.

That’s a rather large-looking red list, don’t you think? 🙄

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

Yep.

Result?

Our hosts appear to be marching a tune in the league at the moment and the beat looks like this: W L W L W L. 🥁 I’m sure you’ve worked out the sequency and that you don’t need me to tell you that we need to avoid what would come next.

I can’t quite work Forest out at the moment – on the one hand some results suggest that they are a tight, hard-to-break-down outfit, which you’d expect under Sean Dyche, yet on the other they have been rolled over 3-0 on a number of occasions. 🤷‍♂️

I expect a tight game where, once again, we may find it hard to break the home side down. Goals don’t come all that easy for the reds of Nottingham but I wouldn’t rule out them scoring against us in a fast, counter attacking break or two.

It’s easy to sound like a stuck record when you support Manchester City but that’s just how it is – facing a lot of sides who mostly set up with a low block and then hope to counter and catch us on our heels.

This concerns me a little…

Whenever I look at our next fixture and see that it’s at the City Ground, I sort of think Spurs away, Villa away…and even Southampton away. All grounds we either sometimes, or all too often, struggle at. 🫢

However…

A win? I think so. As long as we continue to show the kind of craft we’ve all witnessed of late as well as being needle sharp in our half of the pitch.

Whatever our manager thought of our last performance, a good all-round team display was how some City fans described us against West Ham and that’s what’s needed this afternoon…plus a few magic moments from the likes of Foden, Cherki and Haaland, of course.

Patience, hard work and not too many mince pies in the days leading up to the match and we should bring home a Christmas present of all-3 points. 🎁😁 I’m going for a City win.

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Overcast but dry once again; as the weather continues to be kind, moisture wise, and feels quite winter like. A constant 10MPH north-easterly breeze should keep any morning mist away but that does make 7C feel more like 4C for those in the stands.  ☁️🧥🧣🍵🥧🍺⚽

Solidarity

Predictions v Crystal Palace – 14.12.2025

After a ropey start for us following the last international break, a victory this afternoon (2:00pm KO GMT) would make it 5 wins from 5.

Following the last one on my previous post, there’s another blog announcement at the end of this piece.

v Crystal Palace

Selhurst Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our home victory against Sunderland: 11/11 .

Will it be a third game on the trot with the same starting 11?

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Cherki__

 

_________Silva(C)_________________Foden__________

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)__________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma_________________

Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Ake, Khusanov, Reijnders, Bobb, Savinho and Marmoush.

Yep, that’s what I’m going with. So…

Gigi continues between the sticks.

Nico-O-, Josko, Ruben and Matheus are our back-4, occasional 3.

Nico-G- is the deepest of the midfielders, while Jeremy, Bernardo, Phil and Rayan-C- all provide the creativity for Erling up front.

James is reserve keeper; Rayan-A-, Rico, Nathan and Abdukodir make up four defenders on the bench. Tijjani is the only out an’ out midfielder on the side, while the 9 subs are completed by wingers / forwards Oscar, Savinho and Omar.

If you weren’t aware, this is the last game that we’ll have both Rayan Ait Nouri and Omar Marmoush in our matchday squad until their time with their respective national teams is complete in the African Cup of Nations. With John, Mateo and Rodri all still unavailable, it’ll be interesting to see who steps in to complete ‘the 9’ in the coming weeks; assuming both John and Rodders aren’t back by next weekend, that is (changes are likely for our midweek encounter).

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Stefan Ortega – Not selected.

-       Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury but it was said on 12^th December that the England defender isn’t expected to be missing for long.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Recovering from secondary surgery to clean up some calcification in his ankle. Expected return is around February 2026.

-       Rodri – Continues to recover from a hamstring injury he received on 5^th October. We have been informed from 5^th December onwards that the Spanish international is back in training and that it would just be a matter of weeks before being considered for a return to a matchday squad. On 12^th December, we were told that Rodders was, “…looking sharper every day”.

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

Yep.

Result?

Facing 4^th-place Palace in ‘Gameweek 16’, as I prep this piece in midweek, is not something I thought I’d be saying at the beginning of September. Some may have given more credit to the South London side than I did at the end of the summer transfer window but I’m guessing that I’m in fairly good company with regards to today’s hosts and their expected position in the table.

Two back-to-back league wins have cemented an otherwise fairly decent run of form for The Eagles, which does contain one draw and a defeat in their last 6 (W D W L W W).

Head to head, history tells us that it’s been largely a good ground / fixture for us in recent seasons, with a mixture of wins and draws. Every game has been difficult though, I’m keen to add.

As for this afternoon, I don’t think I’ve ever made three, back-to-back draw predictions before but, fellow Blues, I’m about to do that very thing and that’s despite our terrific win in Spain last Wednesday.

I really do believe that this’ll be a toughie and, perhaps, an away draw at high-flying Palace should be seen as a decent point. Yes? No? Well, as long as it’s a well-deserved point and not a lucky one OR one where we throw 3 points away towards the very end.

The good news is that my last two draw predictions ended up in victories for us so fingers crossed for the same outcome; as I predict a share of the points once more.

C’mon City – prove me wrong again! 💪🤞

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Draw

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Nothing much doin’ really. Largely grey skies; some sunshine and dry. 10C is the official temperature with a ‘feels like’ of 8C in the southerly breeze. 🌥️️🧥🥧🍺⚽

TRANSFER NEWS

Want some transfer news? It’s something I rarely include in my blog postings; particularly a pre-match piece.

However, as you are about to read in the announcement section, I won’t be posting for a short time after today and there does appear to be quite a bit of gossip flying around about a few January departures, if you haven’t already read / heard.

·         News from a few weeks ago was that Nathan Ake would be departing in the winter transfer window and today’s hosts were apparently leading the way for his signature.

·         Not long after that, there were rumours that James Trafford was feeling disillusioned and wanted out in the new year, following the club’s decision to bring Gianluigi Donnarumma in the summer as well as the young England Under-21 keeper.

·         Now, apparently in a move designed to increase our winter transfer window spending power, the club is rumoured to be off-loading Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Savinho.

·         Kalvin Phillips is a possible target for Everton in a few weeks’ time, although that could be on loan for now.

Take any or all of those seriously or with a pinch of salt - it’s up to you of course.

However, should at least half of those be true, particularly with regards to the wingers, I think that backs up the other rumour that’s been circling in recent weeks, which is that we, as well as a number of other clubs, are going to trigger Antoine Semenyo’s £65M release clause in January.

There’s also talk about us showing an interest in re-signing Spurs’ right-wing back, Pedro Porro; with the North London side attempting to extend the Spanish international’s contract beyond 2028.

Crystal Palace and England midfielder, Adam Wharton, has also been linked with a move to M11.

Announcement

They’ll be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our League Cup home fixture against Brentford on Wednesday night (17^th December).

This is also my last blog posting before Christmas (WHAT?! 😮) due to a small, pre-Christmas holiday, so they’ll also be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our home league match against West Ham United on Saturday 20^th December; a match I’ll be away for but hope to find a live radio broadcast, at least. 🙏

I hope to be back blogging ahead of our away league game at Nottingham Forest on Saturday 27^th December and so, in the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Christmas!

Solidarity