The first of three…

…back-to-back, 8:00pm kick-off games; one on a Friday – yes, our opening match of the season on a Friday night – the next on a Wednesday and a further one on a Saturday.

Yes…8:00pm on a Saturday!

THIS is football today. 🤪 🙄

v Burnley

Turf Moor

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

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

A very fluid 3-2-4-1 / 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

Grealish___________________________________Silva

 

______________________________De Bruyne________

__________Kovacic______________________________

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

____________Dias_______________Stones__________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Laporte, Phillips, Foden, Palmer & Alvarez.

The biggest question, in my opinion, with regards to our line-up is…does Pep go with a player on the left of defence who would be just back from a little time out with a tight calf / muscle fatigue; does he-instead plunge a new signing straight into the ‘blood ‘n’ thunder’ of an away, night match in the Premier League or does he-perhaps, once again, stick a player in that position who isn’t quite so natural over in that berth?

Ederson reclaims his place ‘between the sticks’ for this one.

I’ve made my mind up, as you will have already seen, and I can see our boss introducing Josko into the first team ‘from the very off’. Ruben, John & Kyle make up the rest of the fluid back-3 / 4.

Rodders to start this game as a shield to those behind him, while I can imagine an attacking 3-1/2 of Jack, Kevin & Bernardo, with Mateo in a dual defensive / attacking-support role.

Erling, at the head of all of those, will be hoping to see more of the ball than he did last weekend, I’m sure.

Stefan returns to the bench as back-up stopper; Rico, Manuel, Nathan & Aymeric are 4 defenders on the side waiting their turn. Kalvin, Phil & Cole are the midfielders / wingers in ‘the 9’, while Julian is the reserve striker.

Notable absences:

-       Joao Cancelo – Not selected

-       Sergio Gomez – Not selected.

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

Yeah.

Result? I think it’s gonna be something of a tough one.

Certainly, when the fixtures first came out, there were a fair few eyebrows raised and I don’t think they were all just because it was, “Vinny v Pep”. Knowing that the treble winners - that’s us by the way - are often slow to start a season in terms of top-level performances; I think there are a lot out there expecting the newly-promoted home side to pull off a bit of a shock.

I think our hosts will be hard to break down but whilst, at the same time, carrying their own surprise threats. We need to be disciplined and not naive at the back and we need to be patient; keep our shape(s) and keep ‘doing our thing’ further up to pitch.

Get all of that right and I think we’ll come out eventual winners. That’s what I’m going for, a City win…but I expect couple of scares, especially very early on.

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

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: The sun, which will have been shining for most of the day, gives way to the moon as the referee blows his whistle to signal the start of the match and it remains clear & dry for the whole game. There are no conditions to affect play but fans getting home from the match might just feel a little chilly as a daytime high of 21C turns to a nighttime of 15.

Solidarity