Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester City: Erling Haaland scores his 27th goal of the Premier League season after Julian Alvarez’s opener as title-chasing visitors threaten to run riot at struggling Cherries
Follow Sportsmail’s live blog for the Premier League clash between Bournemouth and Manchester City.
Host commentator
Bournemouth are causing a few problems here for City.
After a scramble in the box, they appeal for handball but nothing is given.
They then break forward again and Smith’s effort is headed over by Dias.
From the resulting corner, Traore’s shot is beaten away by Ederson for another corner and then the Brazilian claims a shot from Billing.
To be fair to Bournemouth, they have thrown men forward whenever they’ve countered in this first half.
The Cherries almost pull one back immediately after a good move but Lerma’s effort is high and wide from the edge of the box.
Erling Haaland makes it two!
A brilliant team goal.
Ake plays a brilliant ball in behind and Gundogan – who has been electric so far – gets on the end of it after making a great run.
He puts a sumptuous cross in but Zemura does brilliantly to stop Foden having a tap in but the ball rebounds to Haaland who finishes from close range in an almost identical spot to Alvarez.
That’s his 27th league goal of the season and a second is what City deserve for their first half performance.
Some great work rom Solanke who runs from deep, he feeds the ball out to Zemura who returns it to Bournemouth’s No. 9.
He goes down in the box but Paul Tierney is having none of it and the ball goes out for a goal kick.
Really positive play from Solanke though.
Alvarez drops deep and feeds Haaland in behind but Stephens does well to block his shot away for a corner.
Dias then heads wide from the corner – this is looking ominous for the hosts with City starting to really dominate.
Just before that goal the game had begun to take a familiar pattern with City dominating possession but the hosts were holding firm.
But that was a superb ball from Gundogan to Foden to open up their defence, before Alvarez eventually tucked home for his first away Premier League goal.
Now, City will hope to go on and score another – something they’ve failed to do in their past two games despite dominating them.
Julian Alvarez!!
And City are ahead.
It all started with a brilliant tackle from Rico Lewis, Foden was played in and Neto pulled off a good save.
The ball came out to Haaland who fired at goal but his shot was expertly blocked and deflected onto the crossbar but Alvarez was there to fire home from two yards out.
After the past few weeks experimenting with Bernardo Silva at left-back, it’s back to four actual defenders in City’s back-line today.
But this is Pep Guardiola, and that means that Rico Lewis – down on the team at right-back – is doing his usual role of filling in in midfield and helping to create overloads for City.
Rodri then has a long distance shot which is high and wide.
It’s been an entertaining first few minutes with City enjoying most of the possession and forcing a corner.
Zemura then burst down the other end and after a slight scare, Ake managed to clear the ball.
Positive from the Cherries though.
And kick off is moments away.
There is plenty at stake for both teams today at a packed Vitality Stadium.
It won’t be easy for the visitors with Bournemouth having conceded just 12 goals at home all season – fewer than Arsenal, Man City and Tottenham – a great stat.
City have have had a mixed run of form since the World Cup, winning six of their 10 Premier League games.
However, they haven’t been able to go on one of their lengthy winning runs and City have won only one of their last six away from home in all competitions.
Guardiola’s side have been guilty of squandering plenty of chances and being stung up the other end, as was the case against Nottingham Forest last weekend who scored with their only shot on target.
They need to ease those concerns today.
Firstly, for Man City it’s bad news that Arsenal held on to extend their lead at the top to five points, meaning Pep Guardiola’s side really do need to win tonight.
For Bournemouth, it’s not been a great day. After leaping out the relegation zone last week, they’ve dropped back down to 19th with the wins for Leeds and West Ham.
The only solace is defeats for Leicester and Nottingham Forest means that they have been dragged back into the relegation battle.
Steve Cooper’s side are in 13th place, but they are just four points clear of 18th place Everton.
It’s been an eventful day already in the Premier League with plenty of action at both ends of the table across the 3PM fixtures.
EVERTON 0-2 ASTON VILLA
LEEDS 1-0 SOUTHAMPTON
LEICESTER 0-1 ARSENAL
WEST HAM 4-0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Both sets of players are almost ready to go and are out completing their warm-ups as we speak.
Kevin de Bruyne is only on the bench today after missing City’s midweek Champions League draw with RB Leipzig due to illness.
Meanwhile, Erling Haaland will be keen to get back to goalscoring form today, having netted just once in his last five league games.
Gary O’Neil’s side are in a dogfight and they will be doing all they can to keep star-studded opponents quiet.
It’s a mouthwatering game we have in store at the Vitality Stadium for both sides today.
Despite leapfrogging Arsenal after beating them at the Emirates just last week, the Gunners are set to go five points of Pep Guardiola’s side if they hold on to their lead at Leicester.
City have dropped precious points over recent weeks at Tottenham and Nottingham Forest and really need to get back to winning ways today if they are going to have a chance of regaining their title.
Bournemouth meanwhile are fighting for their lives at the bottom, and secured a crucial win at Wolves last week – their first since the World Cup.
It’s all to play for…
Just the one change for Bournemouth as Chris Mepham comes in for the injured Marcus Tavernier.
It looks as if the Cherries will go with a five-at-the-back today.
Kick off for this one is at 5.30PM.
📝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 📝
🔺 One change
🔺 Mepham comes in
🔺 Tavernier ruled out
We're all set for #BOUMCI 👊👊 pic.twitter.com/pjYeT0ygt0
It’s four changes for Manchester City after last week’s disappointing draw at Nottingham Forest.
Ake, Akanji, Lewis and Alvarez all come in for Walker, Laporte, Silva and De Bruyne as it looks like Guardiola will line up with a back-four.
🐝 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🐝
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
And welcome to Sportsmail’s live coverage of the Premier League clash between Bournemouth and Manchester City at the Vitality Stadium.
Stay with us for team news, build-up and live updates from throughout the match.
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