City make two changes for key trip to Bournemouth

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Manchester City F.C.

·19 May 2026

City make two changes for key trip to Bournemouth

City make two changes for Tuesday’s key Premier League trip to Bournemouth.

Men's Team

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From the side that began Saturday’s FA Cup final win against Chelsea on Saturday, manager Pep Guardiola brings goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and midfielder Mateo Kovacic into the starting eleven.

In what marks our penultimate game of the season, James Trafford and Omar Marmoush both revert to the bench.

City will kick off this evening lying five points behind league leaders Arsenal but with a crucial game in hand.

Victory this evening would ensure that the race for the title goes down to Sunday’s league finale at home to Aston Villa.

Teams

BOURNEMOUTH: Petrovic, Smith (C), Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Adams, Scott, Rayan, Kroupi, Tavernier, Evanilson

Subs: Mandas, Cook, Brooks, Gannon-Doak, Diakite, Kluivert, Adli, Unal, Toth

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’Reilly, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bernardo (C), Semenyo, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Cherki, Gvardiol, Savinho, Foden

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Tactics

Gianluigi Donnarumma returns in goal with the Italian shielded by a back four of Matheus Nunes, centre halves Marc Guéhi and Abdukodir Khusanov and left back Nico O’Reilly.

Rodri again starts as the holding midfielder with skipper Bernardo Silva and Kovacic also deployed in the engine room.

Erling Haaland will form City’s central attacking focal point with Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo providing the width down either flank.

Fight to the finish

City are straight back at the coal face after the high of last weekend’s memorable FA Cup final win over Chelsea.

That made it a second piece of silverware this season following hard on the heels of March’s Carabao Cup success.

And there could yet be another prize in the offing with the Premier League still attainable.

In the wake of Arsenal’s 1-0 win against Burnley last night which stretched the Gunners’ lead at the top of the table to five points, the mathematics for City are simple.

If we win this evening the fight for the crown will go down to Sunday’s final game of the season with the Blues hosting Aston Villa and Arsenal facing a tricky last day trip to Crystal Palace.

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However, a draw or loss would mean Mikel Arteta’s side will be crowned champions this evening.

No lack of incentive for Pep and the players then!

Return ticket

Tonight’s clash marks a first return to the Vitality Stadium for Antoine Semenyo following his January move from Bournemouth to City.

It’s fair to say the Ghanaian winger has been little short of a revelation since arriving at the Etihad.

Saturday’s stunning FA Cup final winner against Chelsea marked just the latest piece of individual magic that the 26-year-old has conjured up in his short time at the club.

That Wembley wonder strike represented his 10th goal of the season for City in all competitions.

And with everything still to play for in terms of the race for the league title, there is little doubt that Semenyo will be even more motivated to conjure up some more moments to savour this evening as he returns to his former stomping ground.

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Match stats

Bournemouth have lost 16 of their 17 Premier League games against City, though the exception was a 2-1 win in this exact fixture last season.
City’s 94.1% win rate against Bournemouth is the highest of any side against another in Premier League history (min. 10 games – W16 D0 L1).
Bournemouth have lost their final home league game in four of the last six seasons (W2), though they did beat Leicester City 2-0 last season.
City have only lost our final away league game in two of the last 16 seasons (W11 D3), though these defeats have come in the last five campaigns at Brighton (2020-21) and Brentford (2022-23).
City have lost three of our last four Premier League away games against sides from the south coast (D1), as many as we had in our previous 24 visits to Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton (W18 D3).
Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last 16 Premier League games (W8 D8), the longest run of any side in the competition this season. The Cherries have won four of their last five, as many as they had in their previous 22 combined (D12 L6).
Bournemouth have avoided defeat in eight different Premier League games when conceding first this season (W3 D5), with only Brighton (9) doing so more often (W3 D6).
Bournemouth’s Rayan has scored in each of his last three Premier League appearances – the only teenagers to score in four in a row are Robbie Fowler (3 runs between 1994/1995), Nicolas Anelka (2 runs between 1998/1999) and Francis Jeffers (August/September 2000).
City’s Jérémy Doku has been involved in four goals in his last three away games in the Premier League (3 goals, 1 assist), just one fewer than he was in his first 38 on the road (2 goals, 3 assists).
Erling Haaland has been involved in 15 goals away from home in the Premier League this season (11 goals, 4 assists). The only City player with more on the road in a single campaign is Sergio Agüero (19 in 2014-15, 17 in 2016-17).

Be at the first public event in the new North Stand!

This Wednesday, the first-ever fan event is planned to take place within the expanded section of the Etihad Stadium’s North Stand.

This landmark occasion forms part of the phased opening of the expansion, with a series of public and private test events designed to assess key operational elements of the facility.

Subject to the new areas successfully passing initial internal checks, the event on Wednesday 20 May, will operate at 50% of the additional seating capacity, allowing more than 3,500 fans to attend.

Should the test event be successful, the next phase will see us trial 100% capacity at the final Premier League home match of the season against Aston Villa. Hospitality areas, the fan zone and the wider Medlock Square development will open later in 2026.

Tickets here