Pellegrini without five senior players for trip to Vitality Stadium
AFC Bournemouth vs Manchester City
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 3.00pm, Saturday 2nd April 2016
Venue: Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth
Referee: Robert Madley Assistants: M McDonough, M Perry Fourth Official: T Harrington
Odds: Bournemouth 11/4, Draw 5/2, City 11/10
Tickets: Sold out
TV: Match of the Day
Bournemouth
Manager: Eddie Howe
Squad (from): Boruc, Federici, Bennett, Cook, Costa, Daniels, Distin, Elphick, Francis, Smith, Wiggins, Andrade, Atsu, Gosling, MacDonald, O'Kane, Pugh, Ritchie, Surman, Stanislas, Afobe, Grabban, Gradel, Iturbe, King, Murray, Rantie
Injured: Arter, Mings, Wilson
Doubtful: King, Stanislas
Suspended: None
Form guide: LWWWDL
Manchester City
Manager: Manuel Pellegrini
Squad (from): Caballero, Wright, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Mangala, Otamendi, Sagna, Zabaleta, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Fernando, M Garcia, Nasri, Navas, Silva, Aguero, Bony, Iheanacho
Injured: Delph, Kompany, Hart, Toure, Sterling
Doubtful: De Bruyne, Nasri
Suspended: None
Form guide: LDWLLL
City are without five first team regulars for their first ever visit to The Vitality Stadium on Saturday. Yaya Toure and Joe Hart join Fabian Delph, Raheem Sterling and Vincent Kompany on the injured list. Samir Nasri and Kevin De Bruyne, however, are both available again after long term injuries.
“We’re disappointed because one month ago we were involved in all the competitions, just three points behind the leaders,” said Pellegrini.
“We have to play another eight games - it’s not in this moment a bad season, we won a title, we’re still in the Champions League.
“We were forced to leave the FA Cup because we had so many games and unfortunately we had a bad performance in the last game. It’s not the time to analyse the season.
“It’s not just United and West Ham. Liverpool have two games less. Southampton… when you have 24/27 points to play for, I think that a lot of things can happen. All the teams are involved and have a mathematical chance and that’s also the case with teams in front of us.
"It's my mentality - we take each game as it comes and try to finish as high up the table as we can.”
City's last away game against Bournemouth ended in a 0-0 draw, with Kevin Horlock infamously sent off for "aggressive walking". Overall City have won 5 of the 7 games played against Bournemouth, with 2 draws and no defeats.
Prediction: Bournemouth 1 City 1