Bournemouth vs Manchester City

Manchester City’s Premier League title defense continues at the Vitality Stadium as they take on mid-table Bournemouth this weekend.

Outperforming an underdog tag has become synonymous with Bournemouth, who, after beating 10-man Arsenal 2-0 on home turf, notched a last-gasp equalizer to hold Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw last weekend. Those results should lift the spirits around Andoni Iraola’s camp after his team delivered a mixed bag of performances in the opening nine Premier League rounds (W3, D3, L3). Despite residing narrowly in the bottom half of the standings, the hosts trail fifth-placed Chelsea by only five points ahead of their return to the Vitality Stadium, where they’ve gone from back-to-back winless league outings (D1, L1) to consecutive two-goal margin victories. However, the task ahead is nothing short of Herculean, considering the Cherries haven’t got the better of Manchester City in any of their 20 previous encounters (D2, L18).

Pep Guardiola’s side will take the field determined to protect their perfect 14-game H2H record in the Premier League (W14) and erase the memory of a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in midweek EFL Cup action. However, the Citizens have thrived in league matches this season, with a narrow 1-0 home win against Southampton last weekend firing them to the top of the table as the only unbeaten team in England’s top flight (W7, D2). Virtually unplayable in the Premier League, Manchester City boast a formidable 32-game unbeaten run in this competition (W26, D6). But with their last four league victories yielding a single-goal margin, the visitors should know better than to take anything for granted.