Ben Fisher’s match report is in, which is another way of me saying goodbye. Thanks to all who messaged in. Make sure you’re back on these pages tomorrow for the Carabao finale.
John Stones speaks to Sky: “I think we knew what we were in for today. Watching Bournemouth over the past few games, how they press high up the pitch, man to man, fight right to the end. We knew it was going to go 95, 96 minutes today. How we dealt with it is credit to us.”
On his own role, stepping into midfield from centre-half, he talks about trying to find space and create space for others.
He was all over the place today (in a good way).
It refuses to stop. Scott Murray’s watching Arsenal take on Newcastle if you fancy it.
Bournemouth were far more adventurous and watchable in that second half but lacked the killer touch. City had it in the first, winning it through Phil Foden’s rebound effort. Manchester City are now just a point behind Liverpool. It’s getting all hot and sweaty up there with 12 games to go.
FULL-TIME: Bournemouth 0-1 Manchester City
Manchester City, you may breathe.
90+7 min: City break forward and Foden plays in De Bruyne, but Scott is back in time to block a second goal.
90+6 min: De Bruyne gets a yellow for reasons not entirely known by me (I know, excellent work).
90+5 min: Solanke tries to win Goal of the Millenium, launching an overhead kick … but a goal-kick is the end-result.
Updated
90+4 min: Sinisterra’s cut-back is cleared inside the box by Rodri.
90+3 min: Bernardo wins a free-kick out on the left and an argument ensues, with Adam Smith given a stern word from the ref.
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90+2 min: We’ve got six added minutes. City are under the pump.
90 min: Solanke leads a Bournemouth counter, with a terrific cross from Semenyo finding the head of Ünal … who heads just wide! That was inches away.
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89 min: The dangerous Semenyo is confronted by three City players and Doku is the victor, running away down the left-hand side.
88 min: Ünal and Sinisterra come on for Bournemouth.
87 min: KDB is greeted by a charge from Christie, with City provided a free-kick out on the right. De Bruyne curls it into the box … and Neto punches away. Semenyo breaks away and is fouled by Bernardo, who picks up a yellow.
Updated
85 min: Ouattara wins the ball off Foden before twisting and turning inside the box … but his shot goes wide of Ederson and the net. He looks lively though.
84 min: City bring on Kevin De Bruyne to rub it in.
83 min: Ouattara takes a wonderful first touch on the left from a fine Cook ball, setting himself up for a cross into the box … but he overhits it, much to the frustration of Semenyo.
Here’s Justin Kavanagh, both complimenting and not complimenting City: “Your job is probably safe for now, Taha, but maybe the multi-millionaire footballer of the near future needs to worry about AI taking over. After all, this City team has already shown us how football would be played by predictably brilliant yet strangely uncompelling humanoids.”
81 min: Doku has acres of space on the left but Alex Scott does well to block the winger’s shot. Corner for City.
79 min: Faivre replaces Senesi for Bournemouth.
Stephen Gannon writes in, presumably trying to cue up a Bournemouth equaliser. “People like to say the Premier League is the best league in the world, it’s so competitive etc. But we all know once Man City Score the game is over. I feel they’re the only team and (Leverkusen) that you can just right it off after they take the lead. Competitive, I think not!”
77 min: Adam Smith presses high to win the ball off Doku and drive forward, but the City winger runs back with him before bringing him down … no foul given though.
75 min: Haaland is off for Álvarez.
74 min: City play keep-ball in the middle before Haaland seems to be through on goal … but Kerkez does well with a sliding challenge to get in the way before Haaland’s eventual shot is saved by Neto.
Updated
72 min: Foden’s corner is deep but the City header doesn’t trouble Bournemouth. Stones win another corner after finding himself on the right wing.
71 min: Foden plays the ball back to Kovacic, who shoots inside the D and wins a corner.
70 min: Bournemouth are going for it, with Solanke’s shot blocked before Senesi gets a yellow for pulling back Haaland in City’s half.
68 min: Bournemouth make two changes: Kluivert is replaced by Scott; Tavernier by Ouattara.
67 min: Aké blocks Smith’s attempted cross. Corner for Bournemouth … and the header at the far post is saved brilliantly by Ederson! It was Solanke who got his head on it, and the ball is stopped on the line, with the keeper well behind it.
Updated
66 min: The corner doesn’t cause any further damage to Bournemouth. Dias appeals for a handball after a Rodri ball in, but the City centre-half committed a foul himself.
65 min: Doku gets his first go at Adam Smith out on City’s left after a delightful first touch to lay the ball down … and he wins a corner after Bournemouth shirts gang up on him.
63 min: Doku – who terrorised Bournemouth earlier this season – replaces Nunes for City.
Updated
61 min: Cute passes in the middle from City before Stones breaks free on the right, but his cross into the box causes little trouble.
59 min: Excellent hold-up play from Solanke in the box sees him pass to Tavernier for a shot from the edge … but he can’t properly threaten at goal.
58 min: Smith plays a long diagonal ball to try and find Kerkez, with Akanji getting in the way.
57 min: City’s supporters belt out Blue Moon as Bournemouth finally begin to threaten the visitors.
55 min: Semenyo skips down the right wing, beating Aké and launching a fantastic cross across goal, but the shot from Tavernier doesn’t get the desired connection and is heading wide before Dias heads away. Big chance for Bournemouth.
Updated
53 min: Akanji weighs a pass perfectly for Foden in the box, who laces the ball across goal … but there’s no one on the end of it to tuck in.
52 min: Haaland shoves away Zabarnyi with incredible power before getting away a shot in the box … which is blocked by the recovering Zabarnyi.
Updated
51 min: Kluivert launches a dipping effort from range, Ederson getting down to keep it out and hold on.
50 min: Bournemouth look a touch more confident on the ball, with Semenyo doing well to evade Rodri and play the ball out to the left before Kerkez, on the overlap, fails to get his cross right.
49 min: Foden is in disbelief that he hasn’t received a free-kick after going down in the D.
46 min: There’s a little break as Dias takes a tablet and a gulp of water on the touchline.
Updated
Back we go!
City kick-off the second half … away we go.
“I wasn’t suggesting you not writing,” Andy (from below) clarifies. “Just your writing converted. I feel your fear though.”
“Now that the game is effectively over, after that goal, and it’ll be pass, pass, pass, yawn, I have an idea to run past you,” writes Andy Tuohy. “Would the Guardian ever consider AI generated text to speech in their MBMs in the style of various commentators. Ken Wolstenholme? Alan Green? Even Barry Glendenning doing his own MBM. Pathé news for that Cholmondley Warner feel. With crowd and referee sound effects for goals and penalty decisions. I’d actually pay for that.”
As the pros say, that’s above my pay-grade. But also, please no, because I’d rather like to keep doing this for as long as possible before AI eliminates my usefulness.
HALF-TIME: Bournemouth 0-1 Manchester City
Thoroughly dominant work from the champions, with Phil Foden’s goal giving them the lead at the break. John Stones has been everywhere on the pitch while, paradoxically, chillin’.
45+3 min: No dice from the set piece but they come again, with Christie launching a shot from outside the box that forces a good save from Ederson, who moves to his left to push it away.
45+2 min: Bournemouth’s supporters roar as Kerkez wins a corner after Akanji block’s the left-back’s shot.
45+1 min: Stones clips a ball into the box from the right, which is screaming out for a header – but there’s no City shirt on the end of it.
Updated
45 min: Three minutes are added on.
44 min: Foden glides and shifts, getting another shot away in the box but straight at Neto. Nonetheless, the City midfielder has been on tonight.
43 min: OK, maybe not a shooting position as Nunes plays the ball out to the right for Bernardo to cross in. Nothing comes of it.
42 min: The corner doesn’t beat the near post, but Rodri goes on to win a free-kick from a central shooting position.
41 min: Kluivert drives forward for Bournemouth to get the crowd going, but City are on the attack again not long after, winning a corner for Bernardo to take …
39 min: Foden has a go at goal with the free-kick, trying a left-footed curler … but it goes high and wide.
38 min: Stones wins a free-kick on the edge of the box, brought down by Cook after playing a one-two with Bernardo. The Bournemouth man gets a yellow.
37 min: Aké dances forward with the ball before Kovacic is felled in the centre circle.
35 min: Solanke is down in the City half after trying to hassle Kovacic off the ball. He picks himself back up but is limping quite a bit.
33 min: City play knockabout in the middle before Foden picks it up on the half-turn and drives forward … but Bournemouth hold their shape and force City into retreat.
30 min: That delicate lofted pass to set up Haaland for the City goal was from Kovacic, by the way. Gorgeous stuff.
29 min: Bournemouth have a free-kick out on the right after an Aké foul. Cook whips it into the box … and Ederson dives forward like Superman to punch away.
Updated
27 min: City continue to attack, with a Rodri shot blocked before Bernardo tries to coolly curl it into the bottom left corner … he’s not far away, shooting just wide.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Manchester City (Foden 24)
A chipped ball into the box finds Haaland’s run, who does brilliantly to turn and hold off the defender, launching his shot from the left. Neto saves, but Foden advances to tuck in the rebound with ease.
Updated
22 min: That yellow from a few minutes ago was for Bournemouth’s fitness coach apparently – just tell him to get down for 50 push-ups instead, I reckon (sorry, I know that’s dreadful).
20 min: Bernardo glides through the centre before sliding the ball into Haaland inside the box, but the forward can’t sort his feet out for the perfect first touch and the ball is bundled away.
19 min: Someone on the Bournemouth staff gets a yellow from the ref. Meanwhile, where it actually matters, Foden finds a bit of room to strike from outside the box, but his low left-footed drive finds Neto.
17 min: A very slick one-two between Stones and Rodri sets up a City move through the middle, but Haaland decides to pass when I expected him to try and shoot himself.
16 min: Neto launches a free-kick from just behind the halfway line for Bournemouth and Ederson just about collects, spilling on his first go before tidying up.
14 min: A ferocious sliding challenge from Adam Smith on Nunes by the halfway line – one of those lay-down-the-marker fouls. Welcome to the Vitality, kid.
12 min: Solanke plays a nice, chipped ball from the left to try and find Christie, running through from midfield, but Ederson reads it and lets it into the box before picking up.
10 min: Ederson is into action, tipping a fine effort from range over the bar to force a corner. The subsequent set-piece poses no danger to the City keeper.
9 min: The first big chance, and wasted by Haaland. It was set up beautifully by Foden, who laid off a long ball forward with one clinical touch, and Haaland was through for a shot on his right foot … which was blasted wide.
Updated
6 min: Bernardo feeds Nunes on the left who bursts down the touchline and into the box, but can’t muster much else.
5 min: Neto is the only man in his half as he launches a free-kick forward, but Akanji gets a head on it.
4 min: Kluivert brings down Foden after some tidy one-touch work from City.
3 min: City are quickly into their work, Rodri working around a tight press in his own half to feed Kovacic, who fails to get the killer ball through to Haaland.
1 min: Akanji starts on the right for City, with Stones already slotting into midfield.
Peep!
Bournemouth, in their red-and-black stripes, kick things off. City don the white tops. Let’s play!
Pep Guardiola says Kevin De Bruyne’s “not perfect” at the moment, but still fit enough to operate off the bench. The happier news is that Jack Grealish has returned ahead of schedule. Iraola says Lloyd Kelly felt a problem with his hip in training, explaining the defender’s absence for the hosts.
Those in and around Bournemouth have had a good day: Crystal Palace are now level with them on 28 points after their 3-0 win over Burnley, while Fulham are on 32 after a last-gasp win at Old Trafford.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 26 | 38 | 60 |
| 2 | Man City | 25 | 32 | 56 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 25 | 36 | 55 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 26 | 21 | 52 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 14 | 47 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 26 | 0 | 44 |
| 7 | Brighton | 26 | 8 | 39 |
| 8 | Newcastle | 25 | 12 | 37 |
| 9 | West Ham | 25 | -8 | 36 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 25 | 1 | 35 |
| 11 | Wolverhampton | 25 | -1 | 35 |
| 12 | Fulham | 26 | -6 | 32 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 24 | -13 | 28 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 26 | -13 | 28 |
| 15 | Brentford | 25 | -9 | 25 |
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 26 | -14 | 24 |
| 17 | Everton | 26 | -6 | 21 |
| 18 | Luton | 25 | -16 | 20 |
| 19 | Burnley | 26 | -33 | 13 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 25 | -43 | 13 |
Before we get properly going here, feel free to join Rob Smyth for the finish of the 3pm kick-offs.
For the first time this season in the Premier League, Julian Álvarez finds himself on the bench for Manchester City. He’s there alongside Kevin De Bruyne, who was an unused substitute against Brentford.
The teams
Bournemouth: Neto, Kerkez, Smith, Senesi, Zabarnyi, Cook, Christie, Tavernier, Kluivert, Semenyo, Solanke
Subs: Radu, Travers, Mepham, Kinsey-Wellings, Faivre, Scott, Ouattara, Sinisterra, Ünal
Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Stones, Dias, Aké, Rodri, Nunes, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden, Haaland
Subs: Ortega, Walker, Grealish, Álvarez, Doku, De Bruyne, Gómez, Bobb, Lewis
Here they come …
Our team for #BOUMCI 👇 pic.twitter.com/hxTtJjcvyM
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) February 24, 2024
Your City side for #BOUMCI 💪
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 24, 2024
XI | Ederson, Akanji, Stones, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Nunes, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Walker, Grealish, Doku, De Bruyne, Gomez, Bobb, Lewis#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/7dPdE4ea8W
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Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to coverage of Manchester City’s visit to Bournemouth. With Liverpool busy trying to win their first gong of the season, City have a chance to narrow the gap between the top two to just a point. A trip to the Vitality, then, is one they’ll relish: they’ve never lost to Bournemouth, with the reverse fixture at the Etihad earlier in the season a Jérémy Doku-inspired 6-1 demolition. Andoni Iraola’s side, by the way, are still waiting for their first league win of 2024 – they’re up against history, old and new.
I’ll be here to take you through it all. Send in your thoughts, queries, title-race predictions, song requests, who you’re backing at the Oscars, whatever you fancy. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 26 | 38 | 60 |
| 2 | Man City | 25 | 32 | 56 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 25 | 36 | 55 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 26 | 22 | 52 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 14 | 47 |
