MCI Pre-Match Preview: Manchester City v Ipswich Town

The fanfare is over, the celebrations done with, pre-season joys and fears out of the way. With the first league game of the season behind us, the Etihad Stadium welcomes the Four-Peat champions back. Last week’s victory over Chelsea was not a perfect game by any means but it did reveal that Manchester City are still the team to beat in yet another Premier League campaign. City play host to newly promoted Ipswich Town in our first home game of the season and we can expect a fantastic atmosphere and hopefully an energetic performance to go with. The Tractor Boys are back in the league for the first time in 20 years and did give a good account of themselves last time out against Liverpool, even in defeat.  

TEAM NEWS:

The big news of the week is the return of treble winning captain Ilkay Gundogan to the club. Pep Guardiola has confirmed that if needed, he will be ready to get on which suggests he could be part of the match day squad. “He doesn’t need time to settle. Tomorrow, if he has to play, OK he knows everything!” 

In other news, Savinho seems to be recovering well from a knock he picked up against Chelsea. He has been in training so is likely to be with the squad. Rodri has still not trained with the squad and is not available for the weekend. However, Pep did say “he is getting better” and may be involved in partial training today. The rest of the squad is fit with the England euro contingent getting another week of team training in their legs.

PREDICTED LINEUP:

With the squad largely the same as last week, I expect very few changes. At the back, it should remain unchanged from last week with a back four of Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol in front of Ederson. It will be interesting to see how the defence sets up to deal with the threat from Ipswich’s pacy wide players. Akanji and Dias will have to be switched on whilst in possession, alert to dangerous Ipswich counters and long balls in behind.

In midfield, I expect the same three v Chelsea in the continuous absence of Rodri with Kovacic, Bernardo and De Bruyne keeping their places. Ipswich are unlikely to sit deep and defend the width off their box for 90’ and their willingness to go forward could mean this game is tailor made for De Bruyne to thrive in and take advantage of the open spaces.

Upfront is where I see the only change happening. Despite Savinho being better, I reckon Pep doesn’t risk it and starts with Foden right wing. Doku retains his place on the left and of course, the irrepressible Haaland leading the line.

THINGS TO WATCH:

• Should they both start, I’ll be keeping a close eye on the movement and chemistry on the right between Lewis, Bernardo and Foden. With Pep electing to use Lewis as an inverting full back and his desire for his team to keep the width of the pitch, I am intrigued by how he employs Bernardo and Foden.
• Rico Lewis fared well against Chelsea’s wingers and will face another tough test against the emerging Lief Davis and spark plug Omari Hutchison. He has the grit and tactical nous. This is yet another chance to him to show his ability to defend in transition against pace.

Match + MOTM PREDICTIONS:

A big City win is on the cards here with a clean sheet as well. 4-0 win with a Haaland brace and a Foden goal to celebrate his PFA POTY Award.

MOTM? Kevin De Bruyne, expect him to run the show and create chances galore.

5 FUN FACTS:

• Ipswich Town lead the H2H battle here winning 28 of the 66 encounters with City winning 23 and there being 15 draws.
• City failed to beat the Tractor Boys in their last season in the PL doing the double over City in the 2000/2001 season.
• The last time the two met was in the 2002 FA Cup where a Shaun Goater brace helped City to a 4-1 win.
• City have lost just 1 of their opening home league games since the turn of the century
• City were relegated to the Championship in 2000/01 losing the penultimate game of the season to Ipswich. A season in which the Sky Blues faced the Tractor Boys 3 times and lost on all three occasions.

Written by: Dave Mboe

Edited by: Sheikh