v Arsenal

Early KO tomorrow (12:30pm BST) and, so, straight to it…

v Arsenal

Etihad Stadium

 

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-1-2-3-0:

_____________________________________________

 

 

Sterling_____________Torres_______________Jesus

 

__________Grealish__________Gundogan_________

____________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo________________________________Walker

 

____________Laporte_________Dias______________

 

 

____________________Ederson__________________

Subs: Steffen, Zinchenko, Ake, Stones, Fernandinho, Doyle, Palmer, Silva, Mahrez.

Even more guess work, these days, than usual…

Ederson is the only one, for league games at least, that is as certain as it gets to start.

I’m going for the same back-4 that started last Saturday; that being Joao & Kyle on the flanks, with Aymeric & Ruben in the middle.

Rodders is ‘the holder’ and then a fluid bank of 5 ahead of the Spaniard, I’m going for, with-perhaps Jack being given a central role with Ilkay; Raheem on the left, Gabriel offered another go on the right after SUCH a productive game last time out and Ferran operating as the more-central attacker.

Zack is the reserve keeper; Oleksandr, Nathan & John are the defensive replacement options from the side. Fernandinho, Tommy, Cole, Bernardo & Riyad are the midfield / wing choices from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Making progress from his injury but still not-quite yet ready.

-       Phil Foden – Still out with a foot injury and, once again, there’s no updated news on a likely return date. Update 28.08.2021: We have been told that Phil is likely to be ready to return following the up & coming international break. If that's the case, the England international may be in the squad to face Leicester City away on Saturday 11th September.

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

Sure do. Perhaps Bernardo for Ilkay might be one change-option from that predicted 11 but that looks more than decent to me.

Result? I just can’t work our opponents out – they’ve had a poor start to their league campaign but they gave themselves a boost with a big 0-6, midweek win against a very-much second-string WBA side in the League Cup. Not sure what to expect from them, to be honest.

I think they’ll ‘give us a game’, as the saying goes, and this one could be ‘a bit of a toughie’. It’ll be a close affair, I think, but I think we’ll have too much for them in the end.

It’s a home win for me.

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: Beautiful day for a game of footy. 17 to 19C (63 to 66F) with sunny intervals and just a light breeze.

Any comment on the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘fing’?

Well, go on then – I’ll largely-just paste what I posted on a WEB site earlier:

As another poster has already said, what the article writer has written makes a lot of sense and I agree with a lot of it - for one, it does reek a little bit of desperation.

But one of his sentences does really stick out for me - "The Portugal captain has long been an out-and-out striker, a player that waits for the service and does the job". Wow...he sure would get a HELL of a lot of service in a Manchester City shirt and that alone is mouth-watering. As for us-potentially being predictable with Ronaldo in the side, I'm gonna ‘flip that’ and say that if he's simply “hanging around” in the middle waiting for the ball, that means the ‘oppo’ are gonna have to stick a couple of markers on him. Great…more room from the rest of our danger men!

Should this happen, it isn't "ideal" and I do agree with a lot of City fans who have posted on here in that we should have gone for Danny Ings or another proven, short-term'ish striker and then make the Haaland offer next summer. For me, I'm still puzzled as to why we didn't go for a like-for-like replacement for Sergio with Lautaro Martinez but Pep seems to want something different now. However, Ronaldo keeps himself super fit and would definitely add to our team more than he might disrupt it, I believe.

Since then, the scary puppet-faced one has thrown his words into the mix; whether that’s with intent to try ‘n’ convince the Portuguese forward to consider them or is some kind of 'mind games' in an attempt to unsettle us and the situation in general is open for even more debate…