Norwegian Erling Haaland, Manchester City’s big bet for this season. (Photo: Leila Coker / AP)
With Julián Álvarez on the bench, current Premier League champion Manchester City will host the newly promoted Bournemouth this Saturday in a match corresponding to the second date of the competition.The duel at the Etihad Stadium will begin at 11 am and will air on ESPN.
The team led by Josep Guardiola, who started their official season two weeks ago by losing the Community Shield to Liverpool, recovered and made their Premier League debut last Sunday by winning 2-0 away against West Ham United.
In that match the two goals were converted by Norway’s Erling Haaland, City’s most important reinforcement for this season. Córdoba’s Álvarez, another newcomer, replaced the Scandinavian with 13 minutes remaining. This Saturday he will have to wait for his chance on the bench again.
Julián Álvarez is looking to earn a place in Manchester City. (Photo: Justin Tallis / AFP)
A few hours after six of his players (Haaland, the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, the English Phil Foden and the Portuguese Bernardo Silva and João Cancelo) were nominated for the Ballon d’Or by France Football magazine, the reigning champion will measure his strength with a team that has just arrived in the Premier League and has never defeated it in the previous 17 games (15 wins and 2 draws).
However, Guardiola is not confident. “When a team is promoted, it is very dangerous in the first games. He doesn’t feel the pressure, he still feels good compared to the previous season, he has nothing to lose. After one, two or three months all the teams have problems, but in the first matches everyone pushes to do better “, he warned in a pre-match press conference on Friday.
Bournemouth finished second in the latest edition of the English Football League Championship, the second division competition, behind Fulham. At the beginning of this campaign, last Saturday, the cherries They became strong at home and defeated Emiliano Martínez and Emiliano Buendía’s Aston Villa 2-0.
An Argentinian footballer will also be on the bench: Marcos Senesi, from Entre Ríos, who signed the contract on Monday. For his pass, the English club paid 15 million euros to Dutch Feyenoord, in which the former San Lorenzo player had played in the last three seasons.
Probable formations
Manchester City: Edison; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Aké, João Cancelo; Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish. Coach: Josep Guardiola.
Bournemouth: Marco Travers; Adam Smith, Jefferson Lerma, Chris Mepham, Lloyd Kelly, Jordan Zemura; Ben Pearson, Philip Billing, Marcus Tavernier; Kieffer Moore, Dominic Solanke. Coach: Scott Parker.
Stage: Etihad Stadium (Manchester).
Referee: David Coot.
Start time: eleven.
Transmission: ESPN.
Source: Clarin
