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Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Sunday 23 August 2026, 14:00 BST
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Manchester City host AFC Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to open their Premier League campaign, with Enzo Maresca taking charge of his first league match since replacing Pep Guardiola in the summer.
Marco Rose starts his own reign at Bournemouth in the same fixture, stepping in for Andoni Iraola as the Cherries begin a season that also includes their first ever European campaign.
Preview: Manchester City vs Bournemouth
City finished second in the Premier League last season on 78 points and added the FA Cup and EFL Cup to the trophy cabinet before Guardiola’s illustrious decade in charge came to an end.
Alongside missing out on the Premier League title for the second straight season, Man City’s Champions League campaign also ended in disappointment, beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Real Madrid in the last 16, and those results have fed into a summer rebuild under their new manager that has touched almost every position in the squad.
Bernardo Silva and John Stones have left on free transfers, Nathan Aké, James Trafford, Tijjani Reijnders and Rodri have also moved on, with the Spaniard’s switch to Barcelona a particularly notable loss, while Omar Marmoush and Savinho look likely to follow before the window shuts.
Elliot Anderson, for a major £116m fee, and academy prospect Jeremy Monga are the only signings of note for City so far this summer, though multiple further additions are expected in the final weeks of the window.
Maresca’s only competitive match in charge so far ended in a 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal on 16 August, a game in which Jeremy Doku limped off with a calf injury at half time.
Six matches without a clean sheet, stretching through pre-season and the Community Shield, remains the clearest concern heading into the new season for a City defence still finding its settled look under Maresca, though that hasn’t stopped several newly launched UK betting sites from installing City as outright favourites to reclaim the title.
Erling Haaland was the division’s outright top scorer last season with 27 goals and remains the most direct route to goals for a City side still finding its shape under a new manager.
Bournemouth’s sixth-placed finish last season was built on the division’s longest unbeaten run, 18 matches without defeat, and secured qualification for the Europa League, the club’s first entry into European competition.
Antoine Semenyo’s £64m move to Manchester City in January 2026 remains the club’s highest-profile departure of the year, followed by Marcos Senesi’s free transfer to Tottenham in the summer.
António Silva arrived from Benfica and Juanlu Sánchez from Sevilla to help rebuild the defence, while Álvaro Rodríguez joined from Elche to add a further option up front.
Pre-season brought heavy wins over FC St Pauli, FC Augsburg and Genoa, the last of those a 10-1 rout, along with a 2-2 draw against Real Betis, before Mainz 05 won 2-1 in the final warm-up match on 15 August.
Bournemouth have scored seven goals in their last ten visits to the Etihad, a detail that offers some encouragement despite a daunting all-time record there.
Anyone shopping around before kickoff could also check our ranking of the best football betting sites UK has to offer, several of which price a competitive contest rather than a straightforward home win.
Team news: Manchester City vs Bournemouth
Manchester City
Doku is out with the calf injury picked up in the Community Shield and is expected to miss several weeks, with Rayan Cherki in line to start on the right and Antoine Semenyo shifting over to the left in his absence.
Savinho will also miss out after an agreement was reached for his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, while Omar Marmoush is unlikely to feature too with talks over a similar move to Spurs ongoing.
Matheus Nunes has been passed fit and is available for selection, one boost for Maresca ahead of the game.
Khusanov is set to continue at right-back, with Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol the central defensive pairing and Nico O’Reilly retaining his place at left-back.
AFC Bournemouth
Junior Kroupi, the club’s top Premier League scorer last season with 13 goals, has undergone surgery on a fractured fifth metatarsal and faces three to four months on the sidelines.
Julián Araujo is also out through injury and Ryan Christie is suspended after picking up a straight red card, leaving Rose short of options at full-back and in midfield.
Tyler Adams, David Brooks, Juanlu Sánchez, Álvaro Rodríguez and Julio Soler are all undergoing late fitness tests, while Amine Adli and Veljko Milosavljević are further doubts picked up in pre-season.
A defence of Adam Smith, James Hill, Antonio Silva and Adrien Truffert is expected to start, with Alex Scott featuring in midfield alongside Lewis Cook.
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Their William Hill welcome offer for new customers is also worth a look ahead of the weekend’s card.
Manchester City vs Bournemouth injuries and predicted XIs
Predicted XI Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Kovačić, Anderson; Cherki, Foden, Semenyo; Haaland.
Manchester City
Predicted XI Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Petrović; Smith, Hill, Silva, Truffert; Cook, Scott; Rayan, Kluivert, Tavernier; Evanilson.
AFC Bournemouth
Head-to-head: Manchester City vs Bournemouth
Manchester City have won 16 of the 18 Premier League meetings between the sides, drawing once and losing only once, a 2-1 defeat at the Vitality Stadium in November 2024.
Every one of City’s home meetings with Bournemouth has ended in a win, though that record stretches back over more than a decade and says little about a City side now missing several of last season’s regulars.
The reverse fixture in May 2026 ended 1-1 at Vitality Stadium, a result that confirmed Arsenal as champions and ended City’s own title hopes for the season.
Readers weighing up the market before kickoff might find our sports betting tips a useful reference point.
History favours City heavily at the Etihad, but this is a different Bournemouth side to the one that used to travel there simply hoping to avoid a heavy defeat, now well established in the top half of the table.
Our Manchester City vs Bournemouth prediction and tips
- Haaland to open the scoring before half-time as City’s most direct route to goals against a Bournemouth defence still finding its feet under a new manager.
- Evanilson to pull one back for Bournemouth, who have scored in each of their last five matches this pre-season.
- City’s own defence, still finding its settled look under Maresca, to concede again but do enough going forward to see the game out.
Ellis has been working as a freelance sports writer since graduating from University in 2023. He is especially passionate about football, with a particular love for Manchester United.