AFC Bournemouth vs Manchester City – Premier League
Manchester City return to the Etihad Stadium to face Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
The high-scoring win took them back to the top of the Premier League.
City returned to vital top spot with a 3-0 win over United last weekend and to be honest, it could have been more as the Blues threatened to completely annihilate Stratford Rangers.
They faced a Bournemouth side who claimed their first win of the season last weekend, only for Burnley to have a goal disallowed by VAR for offside after absurdly long stoppage time.
Bournemouth were the first team to stop Erling Holland scoring last season, but the Blues still ran out 4-0 winners and City are heavy favorites with 22 home wins in all competitions.
But do the stats show one team’s advantage or are they equal? To give you an idea, if you’re a Bournemouth fan, look away now.
The two teams have a relatively short history, having met for the first time in any competition in 1987.
Saturday’s game will be the 11th meeting against Manchester and City have won all but one of their home games.
The only game the Blues failed to win was in May 1989, when City needed a win to secure automatic promotion to the First Division.
It was the last home game of the season and Trevor Morley’s goal came between two goals from Paul Moulden as City led 3–0 at half-time. Bournemouth hit back with two second-half goals and Luther Blissett scored a second-half penalty to secure victory.
The Blues have more goals Since that game in 1989, City have won every game by a significant margin.
They met again in September 1998, with the Blues winning 2–1 but with a Premier League goal to City.
The Blues have scored at least four goals four times in seven games and went one better in 2015 in a 5-1 win. City have scored 32 goals compared to Bournemouth’s eight and, against a tight Holland line-up and World Cup winner Julian Alvarez, Bournemouth’s defense will not enjoy Saturday’s clash with City.
Moreover, the Cherries have never kept a clean sheet in Manchester.
The only time they prevented City from conceding was in a 0-0 draw at Dean Court in February 1999.
The Blues have only kept four clean sheets and will really need to do better this weekend.
City ended their losing streak against Bournemouth.
Looking back to the 1988/89 season, Bournemouth were the opponents, City had an incredible run of defeats at home.
The Blues won 2-0 at Dean Court in December 1988 but lost 3-1 at Palace, ending a run of four successive defeats.
The home run was broken by a 2-0 win over the Cherries at Maine Road.
Is it for superstitious people?
Unfortunately, there’s nothing this week to dissuade them. The two teams have never met in Manchester and there are no nail-biting incidents or strange patterns.
But we can’t leave them alone and have to think that at some point Bournemouth will win at City.
It could be Saturday when a typical city shows up, a city that sets a new record for home wins. Is that enough to shake them up a bit?
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