City Watch: Blues bounce back

Following their defeat to Aston Villa in their previous Premier League game, Manchester City came up against Bournemouth on Sunday, hoping to regain their good form before two vital clashes.

Before that though, the Blues travelled to Swansea last week for their Carabao Cup tie against the Swans. The last time we played the Welsh side, City had to come from two goals behind in the FA Cup quarter final to secure a spot at Wembley for the semis. That year, we went on to win the Cup and complete the domestic treble… a good omen maybe?

It wasn’t by two goals this time, but Swansea did take the lead in the first half through Goncalo Franco, who beat an outstretched James Trafford. Jeremy Doku stepped up before the break to equalise from a deflected shot, and City went on to win the game 3-1 with goals from Marmoush and Cherki in the second period.

One honourable mention from that game is Rayan Cherki, who bagged himself a goal and assist and looks to have hit the ground running following a few months out with injury. The Blues also drew Brentford at home in the next round, who beat Grimsby in their tie.

Moving onto our game against Bournemouth on Sunday, as I mentioned in last week’s column, different to previous seasons, I was nervous heading into the match, Andoni Iraola has the Cherries playing arguably their best football ever, and had them sat in second in the Premier League heading into the game.

The first half was end to end, both teams with great chances in the opening period, with Bournemouth scoring in the opening few minutes which was ruled offside. Inevitably though, Erling Haaland stepped up following his week off from scoring against Aston Villa, with a beautiful ball from Rayan Cherki to put the Norwegian one-on-one with the keeper, and of course, the most lethal striker in the world right now wasn’t going to miss that chance. 

Bournemouth equalised through Tyler Adams from a corner, which had a controversial feel to it, as it appeared that Donnarumma was impeded by the Bournemouth players. Having seen it back, I honestly don’t think it was a foul on the Italian. We’ve seen them given against us in the past, most notably one against Liverpool a few seasons ago where Akanji has his arm against Alisson before Dias tapped it in at the far post, so the inconsistency bothers me, but honestly, I don’t think there was enough in the challenge to warrant chalking the goal off.

It didn’t matter too much though, as just eight minutes after the equaliser, Cherki once again fed Erling Haaland to give him another one-on-one, making it 2-1 at the break. City just game managed in the second half, dominating the ball in traditional Pep style, with Nico O’Reilly bagging a goal at the hour mark to give the Blues three points in an important game.

City now face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, which, by the time this column is out, will have been played. A familiar team for our Norwegian striker, the 25 year old spent two years at the German side, scoring 62 goals in 67 appearances.

Then, the big one, City will face Liverpool on Sunday before the international break, with the Reds picking up a couple of wins following a shocking patch of form. Manchester City v Liverpool, 4:30pm, Sunday 9th November… this one’s always a cracker!