Bournemouth vs Manchester City Prediction and Betting Tips: City Looking For Bite Of The Cherry In Title Race

Man City's 94.1% win rate against Bournemouth is the best of any team against a single opponent in Premier League history.

However, the fatigued Citizens, who were far from their best against Chelsea, are yet to face this version of Iraola's resilient Cherries.

Bournemouth have lost just seven of their 36 EPL games so far this season. That’s the same number of defeats as third-placed Manchester United and only two more than City and Arsenal.

However, City are in even better form, winning five of their last six league games. 

Pep Guardiola’s men also understand that failing to win would almost certainly guarantee the Premier League title for Arsenal this week.

Furthermore, City have only tasted defeat in their final away game of the season in two of their previous 16 campaigns, which bodes well for them.

*Odds sourced from SportyBet and are correct at the time of publishing. Always gamble responsibly.

Bournemouth are finishing the season in imperious form.

They come into this match unbeaten in 17, but will face their sternest test here since they beat Arsenal at the Emirates in early April.

If any team in the league has the form to rival that of the Cherries, though, it is Guardiola’s City. 

They have a penchant for finishing a campaign at pace, and with the added motivation of the weekend’s cup triumph behind them, they show no signs of slowing.

A domestic treble is the new objective for City. At the very least, they will push the title race to its final day.

The betting markets suggest a high-scoring match. However, fixtures do not always follow that pattern, especially when the result is crucial to both teams. 

In fact, only three of their nine Premier League meetings at the Vitality Stadium have featured four or more goals.

In addition, fewer than a quarter (22%) of City’s away games this season have resulted in four or more goals. So, we can back the game to feature three or fewer goals at a probability of only 58.82%.

City will likely start the game with a cautious tactical approach. They do have a solid track record of finding the net first in this one, having scored first in eight of their last ten meetings. 

If they score the first goal, expect Guardiola’s men to manage the game professionally.

Antoine Semenyo will be eager to impress against his former employers. He’ll want to demonstrate that he’s already improved as a player since joining Manchester City. 

Equally, he will want to contribute to maintaining his team's ambition to win the league title.

The Ghanaian international has a strike rate of 40% in a City jersey. However, the betting markets indicate there’s only a 36.36% implied probability of him scoring on Tuesday.

This means there’s already more than 3% of value on this bet. 

The extra motivation for him to perform against his old club means he’s more likely to outperform his average strike rate.

Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Rayan, Kroupi, Tavernier; Evanilson

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly; Silva, Rodri; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland

Midfielder Ryan Christie will miss the remainder of the season after receiving a straight red card during last weekend’s victory over Fulham. 

Julio Soler remains unavailable because of a thigh injury, while right-back Alex Jimenez has been suspended internally by the club pending an investigation into serious allegations posted on social media.

Only Rodri was doubtful for Man City prior to the FA Cup final, but the Spaniard started and completed 65 minutes of the Wembley showdown.

Rodri’s return likely means Nico Gonzalez will remain out of the starting lineup after being absent entirely from the Wembley squad.

Meanwhile, Omar Marmoush was withdrawn at half-time during the FA Cup final, although the change was purely tactical rather than injury-related. 

Marmoush struggled to influence the game and is now expected to drop back to the bench for Rayan Cherki to reclaim his place in the starting XI.