Win or bust

Simple as that.

v AFC Bournemouth

Vitality Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11.

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

___________________Haaland(VC)__________________

 

 

__Doku______________________________Semenyo__

 

___________Silva(C)_____________Cherki___________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

___________Guehi______________Khusanov________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma_________________

Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Foden, Reijnders, Savinho and Marmoush.

Gigi returns in goal for this penultimate game of the season for us.

A back-4, occasional 3, of Nico-O-, Marc, Abdukodir and Matheus is my bet.

Rodders just in front of those.

In attack, I’m going for Jeremy, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and Antione, who returns to his old club for the first time since his transfer, all behind Erling up front.

James returns to the bench as reserve keeper; Rayan-A-, Ruben and Josko are my guess as defenders in ‘the 9’. Mateo, Phil and Tijjani are a trio of midfielders on the side, with Savinho and Omar giving us wide / forward options from the bench.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Rico Lewis – Not selected.

-       Max Alleyne – Not selected.

-       John Stones – Not selected.

-       Nathan Ake – Not selected.

-       Nico Gonzalez – Not selected.

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

Yep.

Result?

You have to go back all the way to 3^rd January to find a Bournemouth defeat and even that was a narrow 2-3 loss at home to Arsenal. Since then? W D D W W D W D D D D D W W D W W. Yes there are a lot of draws in there, a result we can’t afford tonight I’m keen to point out, but this is a side that just does not get beat!

What has that done for them in the table? Results depending, it puts them in a strong position of some kind of European football next season and with Forest away coming on the final day of the season; they’ll want to do all they can against us tonight to cement that standing in the league.

Did someone say that this was going to be a tough game?

Of course we’re in pretty damn good form ourselves and on the back of an F.A. Cup victory, the second of two domestic cups we’ve won in just 2 months, our players should be absolutely buzzing; using that adrenalin to push through any fatigue they might be feeling after a 95-minute run around at Wembley just 3 days earlier.

We also have everyone fit and I can’t recall the last time I was able to say that. Basically, we couldn’t be going into this game in any better shape; form, morale and personnel wise.

I try to keep my heart well away form my head when making predictions and I might be guilty here of allowing my heart to have a whisper in my head’s ear (I think there are too many body parts in that weird sentence) when I say that 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: After a mixed day of sunshine and showers in the region, it begins to clear up and the sun wins out over the rain from about 5:00pm. Over the low stands of the Vitality Stadium, the sun should easily be visible as the game kicks off (7:30pm BST) but by the end ofthe match, some drizzle sets in. 13/14C is the forecasted temperature but there will also be a stiff, south westerly breeze with that; possibly strong enough to effect any high balls played on the south coast with such low stands. 🍺⚽

In other news…

Pep Guardiola will be leaving us after the last two games of the season. God save the King.

Solidarity