Manchester City are boosted by the return of Erling Haaland for today’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
The prolific striker’s formidable goalscoring run came to an end last weekend in a 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa, as he failed to net in a game for the first time since August.
Haaland thought he had rescued a point with a late equaliser, sliding in and colliding with the back post before the ball crossed the line, only to be denied by the offside flag.
And that knock against the upright had proved troublesome, with City boss Pep Guardiola ruling Haaland out of the midweek Carabao Cup last-16 victory at Swansea as a result.
However, he returned to training on Thursday and starts against high-flying Bournemouth alongside Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri, who has now recovered from a hamstring injury.
Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki took up the goalscoring mantle for City against Swansea, and would have been relied upon to do so again should Haaland’s knock have lingered.
Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes were given the night off in midweek so come back into the starting lineup at the Etihad Stadium. At the same time, the likes of Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol were only relied upon from the bench and also start today.
Marmoush comes back out, having only recently returned from injury himself.
Confirmed team news
Man City XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo, Foden, Cherki, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Rodri, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Lewis
Bournemouth XI: Petrovic, Jimenez, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Adams, Tavernier, Brooks, Semenyo, Kroupi
Subs: Dennis, Smith, Milosavljevic, Cook, Christie, Evanilson, Gannon Doak, Kluivert, Adli
Time and date: 4.30pm GMT on Sunday November 2, 2025
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
How to watch: Sky Sports
