90min
·24. August 2024
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Yahoo sports90min
·24. August 2024
Ipswich Town couldn't have been handed a much more challenging start to life back in the Premier League as they follow up their opener against Liverpool with a trip to Manchester City.
The Tractor Boys turned out for their first Premier League match since 2002 last weekend when they hosted Liverpool. Despite a respectable performance, they fell to a 2-0 defeat following goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.
Things get even trickier this Saturday as they visit the Premier League champions. The two clubs haven't crossed paths for almost 23 years and it promises to be a very different affair this weekend.
Man City began the defence of their title with a convincing 2-0 victory over Chelsea. Erling Haaland opened his account as he pursues a third successive Golden Boot and former Blues midfielder Mateo Kovacic added some gloss to the scoreline late on. Pep Guardiola should have even more players at his disposal for the visit of Ipswich.
Rodri is unlikely to feature this weekend / Visionhaus/GettyImages
Man City may have to cope without linchpin Rodri once again as the Spaniard recovers from a hamstring injury suffered in the Euro 2024 final. However, he hasn't been ruled out of the clash with Ipswich yet.
Oscar Bobb will miss the visit of the Suffolk side as he stares at several months on the sidelines and summer recruit Savinho could also be absent after sustaining a knock on his competitive debut against Chelsea.
Kyle Walker and John Stones should be fit and raring to go for the Cityzens, with Jack Grealish also available again.
Man City predicted lineup vs Ipswich (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Silva, Kovacic; Savinho, De Bruyne, Doku; Haaland.
Phillips is ineligible to face his parent club / Julian Finney/GettyImages
Kieran McKenna will be without a number of players for the trip to Man City, including summer loan signing Kalvin Phillips who is ineligible to face his parent club. Nathan Broadhead, George Hirst and Harry Clarke are all sidelined.
Wes Burns came off against Liverpool with a minor hamstring injury and could miss out this weekend, while Arijanet Muric should face his former employers after missing the opening game of the season with a small calf problem.
Liam Delap should start against the side he left this summer and Jens Cajuste could make his debut after joining on loan from Napoli.
Ipswich predicted lineup vs Man City (4-2-3-1): Muric; Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Greaves, Davis; Morsy, Luongo; Burns, Szmodics, Hutchinson; Delap.
Tests don't come tougher than facing the Premier League champions on their own turf. Unfortunately for Ipswich, Man City have the majority of their squad available to them and made a quick start to the campaign against Chelsea last weekend.
Ipswich held firm for just under an hour against Liverpool last time out but they're unlikely to do the same at the Etihad, especially with Haaland on the prowl. It could be a long afternoon for the newly-promoted side.