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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

How will Man City line up against Bournemouth? David Silva returns

Defending champions Manchester City will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola's side demolished West Ham 5-0 on opening weekend before returning home for a lively 2-2 draw against Tottenham in which VAR denied Gabriel Jesus a stoppage-time winner.

John Stones sat out that match at the Etihad due to a thigh strain, with his manager subsequently suggesting that the England central defender could miss up to 10 days of action as a result of the issue.

Nicolas Otamendi should continue to deputise for Stones alongside Aymeric Laporte, though the rest of the back five seems settled with Ederson in goal and Kyle Walker and Oleksandr Zinchenko - who suffered from cramp last weekend - occupying the full-back slots.

Captain David Silva is a likely candidate to return to the starting XI after being replaced by Ilkay Gundogan against Tottenham, though predicting Guardiola's exact midfield and forward combinations is a tricky science.

Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri should retain their starting berths, while the front three of Bernardo Silva, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling seems likely to remain the same.

However, Riyad Mahrez could come in if Guardiola decides to freshen things up once more.

City remain without long-term absentee Leroy Sane (knee), though reports suggest that Benjamin Mendy could potentially be involved for the first time since April at the Vitality Stadium after stepping up his return from injury.

Predicted lineup

image

Man City XI [4-3-3]: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva, Bernardo, Aguero, Sterling

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