Ben Fisher was in Bournemouth to watch City’s easy win. His report is in, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM, and don’t forget there’s one last Premier League game left tonight: Luke McLaughlin is your guide for Crystal Palace v Liverpool. Enjoy, enjoy!
Pep applauds the travelling support and the Sky camera operator zooms in on him. In a good humour, Pep grabs the lens and, with a twinkle in his eye, swings the camera away from himself and towards his players. City will be delighted with their performance tonight, the last few minutes apart. Mind you, Bournemouth will be happy enough with the way they played, too. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, the cream has to rise, and they were simply outclassed in the first half. They’ll be pleased with their second-half showing, though: Gary O’Neil will have sent his team back out to get a second-half draw at least, and that’s what they did, albeit with the help of a slew of City substitutions. A little something to take away from a match in which, let’s be honest, next to nothing was expected of them. (It’s now 12 straight wins in the Premier League for City over Bournemouth at the aggregate score of 38-7; Mac Millings can rest now that Watford’s current cumulative total against City of 45-6 remains out there on its own.) City end the day where they started it, two points behind leaders Arsenal …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 24 | 29 | 57 |
| 2 | Man City | 25 | 39 | 55 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 24 | 13 | 49 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 24 | 9 | 42 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 23 | 20 | 41 |
while Bournemouth drop into the relegation zone.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | West Ham | 24 | -6 | 23 |
| 17 | Leeds | 24 | -10 | 22 |
| 18 | Everton | 24 | -15 | 21 |
| 19 | AFC Bournemouth | 24 | -26 | 21 |
| 20 | Southampton | 24 | -22 | 18 |
FULL TIME: Bournemouth 1-4 Manchester City
City stay on Arsenal’s shoulder in the title race!
90 min +3: Mahrez aims the free kick for the top-left corner. Always wide, always high. Neto doesn’t bother moving.
90 min +2: Mahrez dribbles across the face of the Bournemouth box, right to left. Just before he reaches the D, Zemura clips him from behind. He does so twice, in fact, once outside the box, once well in it, after which Mahrez goes over. City want a penalty, but neither referee nor VAR are interested in awarding one. Just a free kick.
90 min +1: On Sky Sports, co-commentator Andy Hinchcliffe names Ilkay Gundogan as his player of the match, with a special mention for Nico Lewis.
90 min: There will be three added minutes.
89 min: Anthony glides down the left, past a leaden-footed Walker, and curls towards the top right. Ederson is beaten, but the ball swerves away from the target at the last. Goal kick, but you can bet your last shiny peseta that Pep will have words to say to his team about the way they’re seeing out this match.
87 min: … and now Lerma’s pass down the right evades the flailing Foden, allowing Fredericks to tear into space. His low, hard cross towards the near post is smothered by Ederson, which is just as well because Solanke was inches away from extending a leg to poke home.
86 min: Walker’s loose pass nearly lets Solanke in down the left. This is an unnecessarily shoddy end to an otherwise fine performance from City. They’ve taken their eye off the ball here.
84 min: On the bench, Pep Guardiola is fuming. Ever the perfectionist, huh.
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GOAL! Bournemouth 1-4 Manchester City (Lerma 83)
… but Bournemouth haven’t given up! They wanted a consolation, and now they’ve got one their attacking efforts have deserved! Zemura exchanges passes with Solanke down the left. City fail to deal with his cutback, and the ball breaks to Lerma, who controls on the penalty spot and lashes home!
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82 min: This match is petering out, and no wonder: City have replaced half of their team.
80 min: The corner’s eventually taken, leading to a minor melee. The ball breaks left to Foden, who floats harmlessly into the arms of Neto.
79 min: Perrone combines with Phillips down the left to win a corner. Before it can be taken, Walker comes on for Ake, who as a one-time Cherry receives a warm ovation from his former fans. A lovely moment.
77 min: Solanke spins down the left only to be caught by the high boot of Phillips, who having already been booked really needs to watch himself here. To be fair, there wasn’t much in the way of contact, but that’s not really the point: he’s giving the referee a decision to make. Fortunately for the City midfielder, the referee doesn’t see anything in it.
76 min: Bournemouth swap out Traore for Anthony.
74 min: Gomez has a whack that’s deflected onto the top of the net. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, other than another corner, from which nothing comes.
72 min: That’s the last act from both Grealish and Haaland, who are replaced by Mahrez and, making his Manchester City debut, the 20-year-old Argentinian midfielder Maximo Perrone.
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71 min: Lewis flicks Foden into space down the right. Grealish and Haaland take turns to try to force the resulting cross home, but Bournemouth swarm and manage to shut the door just in time.
69 min: Bournemouth’s dander was up for a few minutes there, so City draw the sting from the situation with some patient passing around the back.
67 min: The Bournemouth fans aren’t happy with VAR. But then who is?
65 min: Solanke nearly bursts into the box on the left but is denied by Lewis, who nicks in at the expense of a corner. From the set piece, there’s an absurd stramash in the six-yard box, a 1970s comic-book cloud with boots and arms sticking out of it. City eventually clear. VAR double checks, as there’s a handball shout, but when the mist clears, it’s obvious the ball ballooned off the chest of Phillips and not his arm.
63 min: Ajanki slides recklessly in on Solanke, who was going nowhere in particular out on the left. Another booking for the visitors, who have the three points in the bag, but don’t want to sour the evening by getting someone needlessly sent off.
62 min: Corner for City down the right. Ake, seemingly determined to score tonight against his old club, meets it but can only send his header harmlessly over the bar.
61 min: Phillips is booked for a pointless lunge on Ouattara.
60 min: Foden bustles into the Bournemouth box down the inside-right channel. The ball breaks back to Ake, who hits a screamer that, had it not been straight at Neto, would have taken the net clean off its frame.
59 min: Bournemouth’s turn to make a double change: Billing and Smith are replaced by Rothwell and Fredericks.
58 min: The fourth goal is officially a Mepham own goal … and his evening goes from bad to worse as he’s booked for a cynical trip on the in-flight Grealish.
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56 min: City make a double change, replacing Rodri and Gundogan with Phillips and Gomez.
54 min: The City fans meanwhile entertain themselves by running through the Fleetwood Mac songbook. The lyrics not word for word as Christine McVie intended.
52 min:
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-4 Manchester City (Alvarez 51)
Some pinball around the Bournemouth box. The hosts can’t clear. Alvarez sends a pearler towards the bottom left. In it goes. That may end up going down as a Mepham own goal, as it deflected into the corner off him en route. Let’s see if Alvarez’s shot was heading wide. More when we have it.
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49 min: Gundogan has been a thorn in Bournemouth’s side all game. He glides down the right and looks for Alvarez in the middle. Zemura tries to hack clear, but only finds Alvarez, whose shot is blocked. Foden and Gundogan then take turns, but they’re denied too. An early second-half goal for City would surely deflate Bournemouth to such an extent that the Potential Rout Klaxon may have to be sounded.
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47 min: Bournemouth fly out of the blocks in what is most likely to be a futile gesture. They’re a bit over-eager, though, Ouattara crashing clumsily into Grealish and earning the first booking of the evening.
After keeping their hosts waiting for a couple of minutes – cheeky behaviour on such a chilly night – City get the second half underway. No changes. Meanwhile here’s Mac Millings: “I was going to write in to inform you (regarding your Preamble) that Manchester City v Watford (45-6 in their last 12 Premier League encounters, and that on top of the FA Cup Final 6-0) is a far clearer foregone conclusion than this fixture. But as I type, City might yet get the eight goals they need to match it.”
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Half-time reading. Here’s what happened in the 3pms, for your pleasure.
HALF TIME: Bournemouth 0-3 Manchester City
Bournemouth haven’t been bad at all, Billing’s late brain fade aside. It’s just that Manchester City have dominated like champions do. Unless something very odd happens in the next hour, City will close the gap on leaders Arsenal to two points.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-3 Manchester City (Foden 45)
As if City weren’t causing Bournemouth enough problems, the hosts shoot themselves in the foot. Billing, out on the Bournemouth right, plays an absurd square pass across the face of his own box. Foden’s in ahead of Stephens. He takes a couple of strides before whipping an unstoppable shot into the right-hand side of the net. Oh dear. Fine finish, though!
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43 min: Solanke spins into some space with a cute turn down the inside-left channel. He thinks he’s broken into the box, but Lewis comes across to blast clear. Full marks for intent.
41 min: Foden sashays into acres down the right and wedges towards the far post. Alvarez rises on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box and heads powerfully downwards, but straight at Neto who gathers.
40 min: City quieten everyone down with some sterile midfield possession.
38 min: That’s given Bournemouth encouragement, though. First up, Smith whips a shot goalwards from the right-hand edge of the D. Ederson tips over. The resulting corner leads to Traore attempting to force home from a tight angle on the right. Ederson deals with that one, too, at the expense of another corner. Finally Billing knocks a long-distance lottery ticket straight at Ederson, who finally puts a stop to the sequence by gathering. The home fans enjoyed that.
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36 min: Bournemouth win a corner down the left, thanks to some persistent work from Traore and Zemura. There’s a suspicion of handball after Lerma meets it with a header, but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest.
35 min: Here’s a philosophical conundrum, courtesy of Dylan Kenny: “Is Pep delighted with the tenacity shown by Lewis in making that goal, or is he cheesed off that his newest tyro had to commit the heinous offence of making a tackle in order to do it?”
33 min: Zemura’s clever backheel down the left releases Traore, who crosses deep. Billing cushions down to tee up Lerma on the edge of the D. Lerma opens his body and sidefoots powerfully goalwards, a little high and wide right. Lovely move, though.
31 min: Tommy Handley references. The internet kids can’t get enough of them.
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GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester City (Haaland 29)
It’s that man again! Gundogan romps down the left, past a snoozing Mepham. Gundogan loops across the face of goal to the far stick. Foden tries to bundle home, only to be denied by Zemura. The ball breaks left to Haaland, who smashes home from close distance! This is already beginning to look ominous for Bournemouth. Can they do you now, sir?
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27 min: Solanke goes over in the City box, with Dias, Ake and Rodri in close attendance. He wants a penalty, but while there was some garden-variety contact, there appeared to be no foul play. We move on.
25 min: Dias runs into the back of Ouattara, who falls over. No foul. Play goes on, so Ouattara clutches his previously untouched head and the referee has no option but to stop play. Safety first, and all that … but there’s quite a big loophole in this law, isn’t there. Goodness knows how it can be closed, mind.
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23 min: Traore brilliantly draws three City shirts down the left before flicking a glorious pass along the flank for Zemura, who zips off into space. He reaches the byline and crosses towards Solanke at the near post, but it’s too close to Ederson, who plucks from the cold night sky.
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21 min: Haaland makes good down the inside left, chasing Alvarez’s pass, and his power earns a corner from a tight angle. Foden curls it in for Dias, who stoops to glance a low header wide right of the bottom corner. City appear to be in a business-like mood this evening.
20 min: … so as things stand, 12 Manchester City league wins in a row against Bournemouth is on. There’s a League Cup win to add among those as well. Fair to say City would pick to play the Cherries every week.
17 min: That wasn’t one of City’s prettiest goals, but it was brilliant in its own right. Nothing would have happened were it not for the proactivity of Lewis down the right. What a tackle! Gundogan’s pass was clever, Foden’s toes twinkled, Bournemouth defended staunchly, but Haaland and Alvarez’s opportunism won the day for the visitors.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Manchester City (Alvarez 15)
This is a great goal, and one that came out of nothing. Lewis slides in on Zemura down the City right to win a ball he had no right to win. Gundogan then chips it down the inside-right channel. Foden picks up possession in the box and rounds Neto, but his shot is blocked. Haaland powers in and forces a shot towards the top left. It cannons off the underside of the bar and drops to Alvarez, who prods home!
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13 min: Dias creams a long pass down the inside-left channel from deep. Haaland nearly gets on the end of it but Smith eases him out of the road so Neto can come to the edge of his box to claim. Pep goes Reep.
11 min: Grealish has been impressive of late, and full of confidence he takes on Smith down the left. His cutback finds Foden, who initially tries to dink Alvarez into space on the penalty spot, then has a whack that’s deflected clear.
9 min: Haaland bustles down the left and kind of scuffs his low cross into the Bournemouth box. Nevertheless it nearly finds Alvarez in the middle. Not quite, the ball rolling just out of the Argentinian World Cup winner’s reach. Bournemouth clear with a sigh of relief.
7 min: Ah yes, here’s why. A lot of space for Foden down the right. The ball’s worked infield for Rodri, who aims for the top-left corner from the best part of 30 yards, but the heat-seeker is always fizzing high and wide left.
5 min: Ake’s jet-fuelled backpass nearly puts Ederson into a spot of trouble. Bournemouth press high and hard, and Lewis isn’t able to pass out from the back. Nothing comes from the resulting Bournemouth throw, deep in City territory, but the early signs suggest Bournemouth are treating this as a free hit, and are going for it to see what might happen. Why not?
3 min: Billing is involved again, this time setting off a counter. He slips Zemura into space down the left. Zemura crosses deep, but while Solanke causes bother at the far post, the ball doesn’t drop for him and City deal with the situation. Some early promise for both teams.
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1 min: Bournemouth deal with it, Billing beating Rodri at the far stick to clear. What a start that could have been for the champions.
Bournemouth get the ball rolling … and give up possession in a matter of microseconds. That allows City to pour forward immediately, Grealish winning a corner after shooting from a tight position on the left.
The teams are out! Bournemouth are in their AC Milan inspired red and black stripes, while City wear their third-choice neon yellow. We’ll be off in a minute!
Gary O’Neil speaks to Sky Sports: “We’re the underdog today against the best side in the country … there’s a real togetherness here … players, supporters and staff are a real close group … we’re going to need everyone to be at their best … hopefully the boys can give a good account of themselves, the fans can be behind us, and make it as difficult as possible for a very good side.”
Pep Guardiola adds: “Phil Foden should be himself, he doesn’t have to prove anything … I did not see Kevin De Bruyne fully, fully, fully recover, that’s why maybe for a few minutes is better than 90.”
The 3pm kick-offs haven’t done Bournemouth or Manchester City any favours. Arsenal won 1-0 at Leicester City to extend their lead over the champions to five points …
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 24 | 29 | 57 |
| 2 | Man City | 24 | 36 | 52 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 24 | 13 | 49 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 24 | 9 | 42 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 23 | 20 | 41 |
… while West Ham United thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 and Leeds United scraped past Southampton 1-0, results which plop Bournemouth back in the relegation places. For now at least. Aston Villa’s 2-0 win at Everton may give the Cherries a little succour.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | West Ham | 24 | -6 | 23 |
| 17 | Leeds | 24 | -10 | 22 |
| 18 | Everton | 24 | -15 | 21 |
| 19 | AFC Bournemouth | 23 | -23 | 21 |
| 20 | Southampton | 24 | -22 | 18 |
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Bournemouth make one change to the XI that started the 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. Marcus Tavernier is injured, so in comes Chris Mepham.
Manchester City make three changes to the starting XI sent out for the 1-1 draw in Leipzig on Wednesday night. Rico Lewis, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez replace Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez, who drop to the bench. Kevin de Bruyne returns from illness, but isn’t risked from the start.
The teams
Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Stephens, Mepham, Senesi, Zemura, Lerma, Billing, Ouattara, Traore, Solanke.
Subs: Travers, Randolph, Fredericks, Stacey, Rothwell, Christie, Semenyo, Anthony, Moore.
Manchester City: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Phillips, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gomez, Mahrez, Perrone.
📝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 📝
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) February 25, 2023
🔺 One change
🔺 Mepham comes in
🔺 Tavernier ruled out
We're all set for #BOUMCI 👊👊 pic.twitter.com/pjYeT0ygt0
🐝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🐝
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 25, 2023
XI | Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Gundogan (C), Foden, Grealish, Alvarez, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Phillips, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gomez, Mahrez, Perrone#ManCity | @HaysWorldwide pic.twitter.com/CS5KaXVLNg
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Preamble
Bournemouth have never beaten Manchester City. In the days before the Cherries hit the big time, the record was bad enough: six games in the old Division Two, City winning four, the other two matches drawn. However since Bournemouth first made it to the Premier League in 2015, the clubs have met 11 times, City coming out on top every single time, to the cumulative score of 34-6. If history has ever teed up a conclusion more foregone, we’re not aware of it.
A win for the reigning champions and title contenders is very much odds on, then … but does history, recent or otherwise, hold out any hope for the Cherries? Well, there was a 3-3 draw at Maine Road in 1989, when Brian Horton’s promotion-bound side shipped a 3-0 half-time lead, Bournemouth’s Luther Blissett completing the comeback with a penalty in the sixth minute of injury time. The Cherries also gave it a good go in 2017, succumbing only to a late, late, late Raheem Sterling winner at Dean Court (for which the City man was then sent off for celebrating). And earlier this month, they held Newcastle at home, and probably should have won, part of a recent relegation-battling, gamefaces-on mini-revival. It’s not much, but when you’re zero for 17, it’s better than nothing.
Pep and his majestic men meanwhile zone in on their third title in a row. A big task for Bournemouth, then. Can they shock the world of football? Kick off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!
