Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Bournemouth (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City take on Bournemouth in their final home game of the 2024/25 season in the hope of securing a UEFA Champions League spot for the next campaign.

After a disappointing FA Cup Final display against Crystal Palace, Pep Guardiola’s men host Andoni Iraola and his team for the last-ever Kevin De Bruyne appearance in sky blue and white at the Etihad Stadium.

The most recent duel between the Cityzens and Cherries was back in March, when City turned it around at the Vitality Stadium in the FA Cup quarter-finals, with Evanilson opening the scoring, before Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush completed a comeback.

After results elsewhere in matchweek 37, City sit sixth in the Premier League table with 65 points while Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa all have 66 points – meaning a draw would be enough to move Pep Guardiola’s side back to third on goal difference.

As revealed by manager Pep Guardiola during Monday’s pre-match press conference, Rodri is getting better day by day while some other players including Oscar Bobb are also improving on their physical side.

As this is an opportunity to make the season not end in complete disaster, let’s see how Pep Guardiola might pick his Manchester City line-up on Tuesday night!

Predicted XI

After being left on the bench against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final as per usual procedure in terms of rotation, Ederson should come back into the first eleven and retain his spot as Manchester City’s number one in the Premier League.

Matheus Nunes arguably deserved to play at Wembley on Saturday afternoon and having not managed a single minute in the Cup decider, the Portuguese international is now in line to start on Tuesday night.

Manuel Akanji seemingly has the confidence of the manager. Following his comeback from injury, the Swiss centre-back has been included in the matchday squad and picked to start, meaning it is likely this happens one more time.

Reliable at the back, Rúben Dias might be at the heart of defence once again for the visit of Bournemouth and partnership the Swiss international, where he is expected to show his traits of leadership.

Possibly Manchester City’s most consistent performer throughout this season, Josko Gvardiol is indispensable in the current squad. The number 24 should play yet another match in blue against the Cherries, this time operating from left-back.

Since arriving from FC Porto for £50 million in the January transfer window, Nico González has played only 780 minutes for Manchester City. The Spaniard needs more game time and could get some this week as a central defensive midfielder.

After featuring for more than 100 minutes against Crystal Palace, Kevin De Bruyne might not be ready to start against Bournemouth – although he must join the pitch at some point for a farewell to the club. Ilkay Gundogan would likely take his spot as a starter.

Phil Foden can still return to his best for Manchester City, there is no doubt about it despite the significant fall-off in performance this campaign. The ‘starboy’ should be given another chance where he shined last season, in attacking midfield.

Versatile as always, Bernardo Silva has improved in the late moments of the ongoing campaign and we predict that the number 20 will feature as a right winger this week, rather than appearing in midfield.

Erling Haaland scored his most recent goal against Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarter-final on March 30 and the Norwegian striker might have another shot at hitting the back of the net against this opponent.

In good form, Jeremy Doku has been a much needed spark for Pep Guardiola in an attacking sense, and the Belgian should be running down the left once more, especially after a good display on the weekend.

With this tactical set-up, we believe Manchester City would attack using a 3-2-5, while defending in a classic 4-4-2 system.

Starting XI: Ederson; Nunes, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Nico, Gundogan, Foden; Bernardo, Haaland, Doku.

Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Khusanov, Rodri, McAtee, De Bruyne, Savinho, Grealish, Marmoush.