Pundit Chris Sutton has suggested that Pep Guardiola could find it hard to pick either Jack Grealish or Jeremy Doku to start for Manchester City this weekend.
Following on from their 3-0 victory against Manchester United last weekend at Old Trafford, the Citizens are back on home soil tomorrow as they welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium for their latest Premier League match.
Looking ahead to the game, one pundit has suggested that Guardiola may have a tough task on his hands concerning who should be in the starting XI for one particular position.
Sutton raises team selection question for Guardiola
Written in his weekend predictions column for BBC Sport, Sutton had this to say about Guardiola having to decide on whether Grealish or Doku should start on the left against Bournemouth.
He said: “City boss Pep Guardiola might make a few changes here and it will be interesting to see whether he goes with Jack Grealish or Jeremy Doku on the left – Doku was brilliant there against Brighton, then Grealish came in and played so well against Manchester United.”
Looking back to the 2-1 win over Brighton, Doku earned himself an overall match rating of 8.3/10 after providing the assist for City’s opening goal of the game.
Then with Grealish in the starting XI against United, his efforts earned him a similar match rating of 8.1/10, even though he didn’t deliver a goal contribution on the day.
This backs up Sutton’s point about both players showing Guardiola in recent weeks how suitable they are in the left-wing position and how impressive they can be.
One potential solution on this occasion would be to start both wingers on each side of the pitch, as the Spaniard did for City’s 3-1 win over Young Boys in the Champions League in between their two previous Premier League matches.
With the duo delivering a combined total of five key passes against the Swiss side, this shows how effective they can be when sharing the pitch.
Taking all of that into account, we agree with Sutton that due to the impressive form of both players in question, Guardiola does have a tough decision to make ahead of tomorrow’s clash against the Cherries regarding who starts and where.
