English Premier
2025-11-02 - Manchester City vs Bournemouth
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 2nd November 2025 - Kick Off 4:30pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
No one will argue that the results have been much improved over the last two months, but those who believed Manchester City were back to the levels that took them to four straight League titles were perhaps overlooking some of the performances. Pep Guardiola's team could not get away from that at Villa Park, although the irony is that Manchester City perhaps deserved more out of that fixture, and now the manager will want to see a positive reaction.
His team did beat Swansea City in the League Cup Fourth Round and Manchester City will be keen to pick up silverware having missed out in the 2024/25 season, but the Premier League is the priority. Results last weekend saw Manchester City slip back into 5th place in the Premier League table and they are 6 points behind the leaders Arsenal. The side have a 3-0-1 record at the Etihad Stadium in the top flight where Manchester City have scored 10 goals and conceded 3.
Manchester City's win on Wednesday makes it 8 victories from the last 11 games played in all competitions. The home form has been particularly strong since the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in August and Manchester City have won 4 straight here in all competitions.
Erling Haaland was never going to be involved in the League Cup tie during the week, but it would be a surprise if he was not leading the line on Sunday. Rodri remains out, while Pep Guardiola will bring back several names that were rested in the win at Swansea City.
Bournemouth
Until he signs a contract extension, Andoni Iraola is going to be linked with some big jobs and especially if he continues to get the very best out of this Bournemouth squad. The early League Cup exit means Iraola has had time to work on tactics this week and his squad are clearly being motivated by everything that the manager asks from them.
Three points were earned on a weekend where several of the top teams faltered and that has allowed Bournemouth to climb into 2nd place in the Premier League table. This fixture is a potential 'prove it' moment for The Cherries as to their season-long prospects and they make the long journey to the North West with a 1-2-1 away record having scored 8 goals and conceded 9 in those matches.
Bournemouth are unbeaten in 7 Premier League games since going out of the League Cup in a home defeat to Brentford, although they had drawn 3 of 4 League fixtures prior to the win over Nottingham Forest. In the last away game played, Bournemouth blew a 0-2 and 2-3 lead at Crystal Palace in an eventual 3-3 draw and prior to that they had drawn 2-2 at Leeds United.
Evanilson is hoping to join the squad when travelling to Manchester, although he may have to settle for a place on the bench after Eli Junior Kroupi's impact in the last couple of games.
Head to Head
Both of these clubs beat the other at home in the Premier League last season, although Manchester City did come from behind to earn a FA Cup win at the Vitality Stadium in late March.
Manchester City have won 10 home games in a row against Bournemouth in all competitions.
There have been 3 Premier League games played at the Etihad Stadium between Manchester City and Bournemouth since the latter returned to the top flight- those have ended 13-2 in favour of the hosts.
Prediction
This Sunday offering from the Premier League has all of the makings of entertaining viewing for the neutral tuning in and there is the potential of yet another high-scoring game developing between Manchester City and Bournemouth.
Fixtures between them at the Etihad Stadium have been particularly high-scoring.
The last 3 hosted by Manchester City have all ended with at least four goals scored and there is plenty of reason to believe this is another that could trend towards that number.
Manchester City are not the powerhouse of a couple of years ago, but they have been very strong going forward in home games played since the 0-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. The squad depth will make them dangerous and Manchester City have been creating a lot of chances, even if they have perhaps been over-reliant on Erling Haaland when it comes to finishing them off.
The Norwegian striker has been in very strong form and been able to keep the scoreboard ticking and Manchester City will be confident they have enough going forward to hurt a Bournemouth team that have conceded a lot of away goals already this season.
Both Leeds United and Crystal Palace created really strong opportunities when hosting The Cherries and they combined for five goals. With that being said, it is hard to imagine Manchester City having issues being able to create chances and score in this fixture, although it is the Bournemouth threat the other way which has to be respected.
There is pace and quality in the final third and Bournemouth do not know when they are beaten.
Andoni Iraola's reputation is being enhanced match by match and his team will play with confidence, although that can perhaps play into Manchester City's hands as these two teams jockey to become the main contender to leaders Arsenal.
Home advantage is with Manchester City and that should give them the edge to get the better of Bournemouth, although the latter are going to play their part in this one.
The problem is that Bournemouth's defensive work has not quite been as strong as the results being produced and this is a team that have conceded far too many away goals. They did earn a clean sheet at Tottenham Hotspur, but Liverpool, Leeds United and Crystal Palace have created 13 Big Chances against Bournemouth and Manchester City's home performances over the last two months should see them join the party.
Ultimately that is likely to lead to a home win in which Manchester City score at least twice, which has been the case in each of the last three home wins over Bournemouth since the latter returned to the Premier League.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-1 Bournemouth
