…a chance to make it five unbeaten in all competitions on Saturday afternoon (3:00pm KO BST).
But it’s going to take both a lot of graft and plenty of craft to take all-3 points off the men from Lancashire.
v Burnley
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| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 10/11.
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):
____________________Haaland____________________
Doku_____________________________________Silva(C)
_________Reijnders_____________Foden____________
_____________________Rodri______________________
O’Reilly____________________________________Lewis
__________Gvardiol_____________Dias(VC)___________
__________________Donnarumma__________________
Subs: Trafford, Ake, Stones, Gonzalez, Phillips, Mukasa, Nunes, Bobb, Savinho.
Gigi returns in goal for this league fixture.
To Lewis, to Nunes or to Stones? With only one official / recognised right-wing back there; all-3 are deemed to be able to fill the right side of our defence. I’m going for Rico to get the call this afternoon and that’s despite him limping off the field heavily in midweek; something he appeared to have run off in the second half. Nico-O-, Josko and Ruben make up the rest of our back line.
Rodders steps back into the starting 11 today and ahead of the 6’ 3” defensive midfielder I’m going for Jeremy, Tijjani, Phil and Bernardo.
Erling returns up front following a little back niggle and a rest in midweek.
James returns to the bench as back up stopper; Nathan and John make up a reserve defensive pair. Nico-G-, Kalvin, Divine and Matheus are four midfielders ready to step into midfield from the side should they get mobilised, while Oscar and Savinho give us two tasty wing options from ‘the 9’.
Notable absences:
- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.
- Steffan Ortega – Not selected..
- Rayan Ait-Nouri – Injured. The nature of the injury and length of time out is still unknown.
- Abdukodir Khuanov – Out with an ankle issue. We were told on 23rd September that the Uzbekistan international will be out for a few games. Exact return date unknown.
- Mateo Kovacic – Back training with his colleagues after a long injury layoff and surgery on his Achilles tendon but this game is likely to have come too soon for the Croatian international. Good news though. 👍
- Rayan Cherki – Out for a 2-month period from the date of the announcement on 30th August with a thigh muscle tear.
- Omar Marmoush – Out with a bruised knee ligament issue. Unknown return date but it will be a matter of weeks by the sounds of it; possibly returning either just before or just after the next international break in October.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep.
Result?
When you look at our visitor’s league campaign so far this season, winning just 1, drawing 1, losing 3; scoring just 5 and conceding 8 doesn’t look good at all. They currently sit 16th and are just 1 point above the ‘drop zone’.
However, I still believe that we’ll need a lot of graft and craft to overcome The Clarets this afternoon and my reasoning is this.
Back in the Premier League, following promotion last season, they hit the ground with a bump; losing away to Spurs 3-0. Up to that point, and following on from last season, they weren’t a side used to conceding a lot of goals.
Then came a clash of two promoted sides, as they hosted Sunderland. Do you follow football closely? If you do then you don’t need me to tell you how well the Tyne and Wear side are doing so far following their ascension from the Championship. Their only league defeat? When they met Burnley at Turf Moor on 23rd August.
After winning their 2nd Round League Cup tie, Burnley then scored 2 goals away at Manyoo yet somehow managed to lose 3-2. Following that, the current champions and league leaders, Liverpool, just about squeezed past today’s visitors with a 95th-minute penalty to steal all-3 points from the home side. In their last league outing, Burnley came from behind to share the points with Nottingham Forest; overcoming ‘new manager syndrome’ an’ all.
To sum up all of that, I don’t believe this Burnley side are a pushover in the slightest and they could well be sitting in a slightly false league position.
Then there’s this…
In midweek, despite the fact that it was a much-changed Burnley side that faced Cardiff City at home in the 3rd Round of the League Cup, Scott Parker was not a happy man with regards to his side’s performance both with and without the ball.
Although it may well be a very much changed 11 that we’ll face in the league on Saturday afternoon; we could have to contend with a side who will want to correct a few recent wrongs and that can be a dangerous scenario.
As I say, I just sense a slightly tough afternoon for us and I hope that our fans can really get behind the lads rather than, perhaps, sending out any frustration vibes form the stands; as we go knocking on the away side’s often heavily-bolted door.
As for us, we are on that good run that I’ve mentioned at the start of this piece so that winning feeling and momentum must be reverberating around the dressing room and club generally. I can’t imagine any sort of complacency setting in after just 3 wins and a draw and that’s certainly not in our manager’s nature and, therefore, shouldn’t be in our player’s mentality either.
Personnel wise, we do have a larger list of injuries than anyone of us would like and, personally, I’m gutted to have Khusanov out because he was looking really solid at right-back. ☹ Natural left-wing back, Rayan Ait-Nouri, is a miss too of course but at least in Nico O’Reilly, we have a young lad full of energy who has grown into that position throughout last season; thanks to Pep’s vision and coaching methods I’m keen to add.
Being without both Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush leave big gaps in our creative and goalscoring capabilities but where we have conceded just 1 goal in September, we’ve scored 8. 👍
I look at the spine of that team with Donnarumma, Rodri and Haaland and if those around ‘em have good games too then that’s a pretty strong starting 11; with various qualities on the bench to pull from too, despite having five internationals not included in the matchday squad. A lot of ‘em have had a week off too.
Work hard, remain patient and we can pick up 3 points this afternoon and that’s what I’m going for - a City win.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: For the majority of the game it’s gonna be dry and overcast. However, light rain may start to move in as the clock ticks towards full time and depending on the journey home, some fans could get a little damp after the match. 15C is the forecasted temperature with a light, southerly breeze. Perfect conditions on the pitch. 🧥🌭🍟🍕🍺⚽
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| Solidarity |
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