Predictions v Club Bruges

No complacency here as we look to ‘gain some ground’ in our group stage.

There’s a blog announcement at the end on this piece…

v Club Bruges

Jan Breydel Stadium - A good, old-fashioned-looking ground.

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Grealish__________________________________Jesus

___________________De Bruyne __________________

___________Foden______________Silva____________

 

_____________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo_________________________________Walker

 

___________Laporte____________Dias_____________

 

 

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Steffen, Carson, Zinchenko, Ake, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Palmer, Mahrez, Sterling.

In addition to the starting 11 and with 12 allowed on the bench in this competition, clubs are allowed to carry 23 players with them in their respective squads. However, for what the reason(s), City have chosen only 20 to travel to Belgium for this evening’s game.

Ederson is likely to take up the gloves once again, following a forced rest at the weekend.

After some changes on Saturday, I think we’re likely to see a more-usual back-4 of Joao, Aymeric, Ruben & Kyle.

Rodders is likely to continue in his deeper-lying midfield role with a fluid, interchangeable, attacking 5 of Jack, Phil, Kevin, Bernardo & Gabriel ahead of him.

Zack & Scott are two reserve stoppers on the side; Oleksandr & Nathan the only defenders on the bench. Fernandinho, Ilkay, Cole, Riyad & Raheem make up the midfield / wing change-options in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

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

-       John Stones – Is not in the squad for what is described by the club as…‘personal reasons’.

-       Ferran Torres – Out with a foot injury until around Christmas time.

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

Sure do.

Result? Tough game tonight, I reckon – they went to RB Leipzig and came away with all-3 points and held PSG at home to a 1-1 draw. In their domestic league, they sit second on goal difference only and have only been beaten once, which is 2 better than any of their rivals. From listening to Pep’s pre-match press conference, they’re a very aggressive, attacking side. Game on!

Our manager rested players at the weekend and I think that’s a big bonus for us. We’ll certainly have to be ‘on it’, as you need to be in any game not least in Europe, and I suspect we will be; we’re in decent form and have a game under our belt following another interrupting international break.

I think they’ll ‘rock us’ and give us a scare and I get the feeling that this will be a close one; a match that could have a fair number of goals in it. That being said and even though we may concede, I think we’ll come out of it with a win. That’s what I’m going for.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: A lovely evening. Dry and warm for the earlier-than-usual, 5:45pm KO (BST). A fairly strong, southerly wind will be blowing in at around 14MPH but I can’t see that causing any issues game-play wise.

This will be my last blog-posting until the beginning of November, as I’m away on a week’s holiday starting on Saturday and won’t even have an opportunity to produce a pre-match posting before our Premier League game away at Brighton & Hove Albion before I leave.

There’s a very good chance I’ll get to see that Brighton fixture soon after arriving; I won’t get to see the midweek West Ham / League Cup match, sadly, but I should be home in time to catch our home-league game against Crystal Palace. Let’s hope we’re looking at 3 wins from 3 there; 2 league wins at the very least.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time and I’ll be back writing soon enough.

Predicted line-up & result v Burnley

Back to domestic football and a chance to build on good domestic results in our last two outings (4 points from away trips to Chelsea & Liverpool, as if you needed reminding).

Just before that and in case you missed them and are interested; here are the links to two, international break blog-postings that I recently released…

Who are they, where are they? Part 1

Who are they, where are they? Part 2

v Burnley

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:

______________________________________________

 

Grealish_________________________________Mahrez

____________________Foden_____________________

________De Bruyne_____________Silva____________

 

_____________________Rodri____________________

Cancelo_________________________________Walker

 

___________Laporte____________Dias_____________

 

 

_____________________Steffen___________________

Subs: Carson, Zinchenko, Ake, Stones, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Palmer, Edozie, Sterling.

Zack steps in as our stopper for this one.

I think we’ll see the same, recent & reliable back-4 with Joao on the left, Kyle on the right and with Aymeric & Ruben in the middle of those 2.

Rodders is the deeper of the midfielders and ahead of the Spaniard, is likely to be Jack on the left wing, Riyad on the right with a fluid, interchangeable Kevin, Phil & Bernardo in the middle / ‘up front’.

Scott comes in as our reserve keeper; a returning [from injury] Oleksandr, Nathan & John are the defensive replacement options from the side. Fernandinho; a returning also [from injury] Ilkay, Cole, Samuel & Raheem all providing the midfield / wing cover in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Ederson – Not in consideration after playing in a late-scheduled game for Brazil.

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

-       Ferran Torres – Out with a foot injury until around Christmas time.

-       Gabriel Jesus – Also not in consideration after playing in that same, late-scheduled game for Brazil.

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

Yep.

Result? A rare home game for us - one right in the middle of 6 away trips.

And I think it’ll be one where our visitor’s Manager will be hoping that we DON’T take advantage of; as he leads a side that has a Premier League record against us which reads, P14: W1 D3 L10. F11 A41. I’m not going to improve their mood by pointing out also that they sit in the bottom 3 after 7 games with no wins and 4 defeats; netting just 5 times and conceding 11.

Now at this point, I WAS going to note that despite what I’ve just said and where our guests sit in the table; a few struggling teams either side of them have conceded more goals, which gives me the impression that The Clarets are the same old, organised, hardworking side who, although they still-clearly struggle to score; can frustrate if the opposition isn’t on their ‘A game’. Add that to the fact that I think, in light of recent meetings, Sean Dyche might try to throw up even more walls than usual; this could have been – and still could be, of course – a somewhat frustrating day for us; with home fans needing to show some patience.

However, news came through on Thursday afternoon that they’ve lost their captain / central defender and ex-City-youth man, Ben Mee, to Covid-19 for a period of time. Then, yesterday morning, I discovered that they’re also highly likely to be without another regular defender in left-back, Charlie Taylor, who is struggling after a knock – two huge defensive blows for the team from Lancashire.

I had us down for a win before any Burnley injury news filtered through and the only thing that’s changed is the likelihood of us-scoring even more goals than I originally had in mind. No shock result - it’s a home win from 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: A bit of a southerly breeze - dragging up warm air - keeps the region’s, mid-October temperature up at a reasonable 14C / 15C for the game – I think light jackets might be needed by some but there’s certainly no real need for fans to completely ‘layer up’ just yet, I wouldn’t have thought. Perfect weather for the players to run around. No wet stuff is forecasted to be falling from the largely-grey sky above and the sun might even make some brief appearances.