Manchester City vs. AFC Bournemouth 8/13/22 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Manchester City and AFC Bournemouth face off on Saturday in an English Premier League showdown at the City of Manchester Stadium. When these two teams last faced off in 2020 it was Manchester City that was able to secure the 2-1 victory. 

After winning the Premier League last season, the hope is that this will be another championship season for Manchester City. The big offseason addition for Manchester City this offseason was Erling Haaland and it didn’t take long for him to make quite an impression on his new team. In the 36th minute, he drew a penalty and then finished the penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead over West Ham United. Haaland also added another goal in the 65th minute, and they were able to secure a 2-0 victory over West Ham. Even though Manchester City came away with a victory, they didn’t look as dominant as some hoped. Manchester City only had two shots on goal. Only once in the last 22 years has Manchester City lost their first home match of the season. 

On the other side of this matchup is Bournemouth who pulled off quite the upset in the first game of the season. Bournemouth faced off against Aston Villa, and they got the season off to quite the flying start. Jefferson Lerma opened up the scoring in the 2nd minute Kieffer Moore and added another goal in the 80th minute. Bournemouth was actually on the backfoot of most of that game, and only had 34 percent of the possession, but they were still able to secure the victory. 

AFC Bournemouth won the first game of the season, but going against a team like Manchester City is a whole lot different of an animal. I still don’t trust AFC Bournemouth’s defense, and their offense is going to have some major issues against Manchester City. Look for Manchester City to score three or four goals, and this game is going to be a blowout. Back Manchester City -1.5 to cash.