Key events
Manchester City agree to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi
It has just emerged that Manchester City have agreed to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. The 18-year-old will join the club in a deal worth up to €100million (£85.5m) and is expected to sign a five-year contract with the option of another year.
Speaking ahead of today’s match, Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said: “At the beginning of the season you don’t set targets in terms of trophies. The target since day one has been quite clear with the club and the players, it’s to compete. You arrive in March and April to be there and then we will see what happens.”
A look at the league table…
As expected, Savinho is not in the Manchester City squad today as he closes in on a move to Tottenham. Omar Marmoush, who has also been linked with Spurs, has been named as a substitute.
It’s believed the duo could join the north London club for a combined £160million. Savinho will cost £85m while Marmoush has been priced at £75m.
Team news
Manchester City starting line-up: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Abdukodir Khusanov, Rúben Dias (C), Marc Guéhi, Joško Gvardiol, Rico Lewis; Elliot Anderson, Nico O’Reilly; Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden; Erling Haaland.
Subs: Gerónimo Rulli, Omar Marmoush, Mateo Kovačić, Rayan Cherki, Nico González, Jack Grealish, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Vitor Reis, Matheus Nunes.
Bournemouth starting line-up: Đorđe Petrović; Adrien Truffert, James Hill, António Silva, Adam Smith (C); Lewis Cook, Alex Scott, Marcus Tavernier; Justin Kluivert, Rayan, Evanilson.
Subs: Will Dennis, David Brooks, Ben Gannon-Doak, Tyler Adams, Bafodé Diakité, Juanlu Sánchez, Alex Tóth, Daniel Jebbison, Álvaro Rodríguez.
Yesterday’s results
Hull City 2-0 Manchester United
Ipswich Town 2-1 Sunderland
Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Leeds United
Brentford 3-0 Tottenham
Preamble
Hello and welcome to coverage of the Premier League clash between Manchester City and Bournemouth. Prem football returned on Friday and what a weekend it has been so far. Arsenal began their title defence with a 3-0 win over newly-promoted Coventry City, but the first Saturday of the campaign produced a few shocks…
Manchester United fell to a shock 2-0 loss to Hull City at the MKM Stadium following goals from Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy. Sunderland suffered a 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town, while Brentford cruised to a 3-0 win against Tottenham. Elsewhere, Leeds United beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 and Everton clinched a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Given those results, it is pretty impossible to predict which way this game will go. The last time these two sides met the points were shared in a 1-1 draw – a result which saw Arsenal confirmed as Premier League champions.
City will surely be looking for revenge today as they return to the Etihad Stadium.
Kick-off is at 2pm BST – join me!