Manchester City will be looking to bounce back from successive draws when they travel to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The Citizens picked off the Cherries when the two teams met in the reverse fixture back in August, cruising to a 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

Bournemouth saw their nine-game winless run come to an end when they secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory away against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, picking up their first three points since the World Cup break.

The Cherries’ only attempt on target was with the thigh of Marcus Tavernier, who diverted a Dominic Solanke cross into the net four minutes after the break to secure their first away win since September.

Gary O’Neil’s side have now accumulated five points from their last four Premier League games and have subsequently climbed out of the relegation zone, sitting one place and one point above West Ham United in 18th.

To the dismay of some football connoisseurs, Bournemouth showed resilience in a scrappy and hard-fought 1-0 victory over Wolves to breathe life into their fight for survival. Some media outlets highlighted the “gamesmanship” involved in that win, which ended a seven-match winless Premier League (PL) run (D2, L5), but Cherries manager Gary O’Neil is unlikely to care with Bournemouth dangling only one point above the drop zone ahead of the round.

They’ll need more of that spirit if they’re to survive one of the toughest schedules the league has to offer with Manchester City coming to town before meetings with Arsenal and Liverpool directly following. Perhaps the Cherries won’t place too much onus on winning this contest in their bid to avoid an immediate return to the second tier, having not beaten City in 17 league meetings (D2, L15) – which coincidentally is the most times one team has met another without winning in English football history!

There appears to be chinks in the armour of the juggernauts however, displayed by just two victories from their last five PL away games (D1, L2) after a 1-1 draw to Nottingham Forest in their last league outing. That sees them trail Arsenal in second place by two points, having also played one game more than the table-toppers.

Despite that gap, Pep Guardiola’s serial winners are still given a 52.5% chance by Opta Analyst to win the league ahead of their chase of a 200th PL away victory. Though the visitors will be buoyed by a 1-1 midweek Champions League draw at RB Leipzig that manager Pep Guardiola said he was “delighted” with, the Cherries may be able to take advantage of City’s busy schedule of four games in ten days to stop them reaching that milestone on the South Coast.

Players to watch: Marcus Tavernier could be key to Bournemouth’s fortunes as he has seven goal contributions from his last five outings (G3, A4). Equally important to his side is Jack Grealish, with City winning 78% of their PL games when he has played (W14, D2, L2), compared with only 33% when he hasn’t (W2, D2, L2)!

Hot stat: In their triumph over Wolves, Bournemouth won a PL game in which they had just one shot on target for the first time since September 2016!

Bournemouth Premier League form:

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Bournemouth form (all competitions):

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Manchester City Premier League form:

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Manchester City form (all competitions):

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Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Neto; Smith, Stephens, Senesi, Zemura; Billing, Lerma; Ouattara, Traore; Tavernier; Solanke

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte; Rodri, Bernardo; Foden, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish; Haaland

Failing to make the most of their dominance in possession has cost Man City in their last two games and on several other occasions over the years, and they can ill-afford to drop more points if they wish to keep in touch with title rivals Arsenal.

Facing a Bournemouth side who they have a flawless record against is seemingly the perfect fixture for them to bounce back, and while their backline could be tested by the Cherries, Guardiola’s men should have too much strength for the hosts.