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Ben Fisher
“I just thought it was fake news,” says the Bournemouth defender James Hill, casting his mind back to the time Barcelona sent a scout to watch him play for Fleetwood. The game in question was a League One defeat by Burton and although the then 19-year-old was highly regarded, there were a few double-takes when the request to attend landed. “‘No, that can’t be right.’ And then afterwards someone told me they did come to the game: ‘Oh, incredible.’”
At that point Hill, who at the age of 16 became Fleetwood’s youngest player, was fresh from making his England Under-20 debut and a couple of months later an under-21 call-up followed, though a knee injury prevented him from joining Marc Guéhi, Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer and co. “I remember being on the phone to Lee Carsley,” he says. “‘I’m sorry, but I’m in the scanner at the moment, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it judging from the pain I’m in.’”
Premier League clubs and others across Europe noted an athletic and powerful centre-back with dozens of games under his belt, and Bournemouth acted, paying Fleetwood £1.2m, eclipsing the £1m the club received for Jamie Vardy. Leicester laughed when Fleetwood insisted on an England clause in the deal for Vardy and Fleetwood inserted one when Hill joined Bournemouth, too. Hill is being monitored by England and it is impossible not to be impressed by the progress of the 24-year-old.
Pep Guardiola on Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth
They don’t let you breathe. When a team is so intense, always when fatigue comes due to the amount of games, they can reduce this tempo a little bit, but with 10 days to prepare, I expect an intense team.
Team news
Tyler Adams replaces Ryan Christie in the Bournemouth midfield. That’s the only change from the team that won at Fulham ten days ago.
Pep Guardiola makes two changes to his FA Cup-winning side: Gianluigi Donnarumma and Mateo Kovacic replace James Trafford and Omar Marhoush. That probably means a switch to 4-3-3.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Rayan, Kroupi, Tavernier; Evanilson.
Subs: Cook, Brooks, Gannon-Doak, Diakite, Kluivert, Adli, Unal, Toth, Mandas.
Man City (poss 4-3-3) Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Rodri, Kovacic; Semenyo, Haaland, Doku.
Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Cherki, Gvardiol, Savinho, Foden.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
Antoine Semenyo on his return to Bournemouth
It’ll be emotional for sure. It’s good to be back and to see everyone, but we’ve got a job to do.
I know how tough it will be against Bournemouth but we’ve got a gameplan and hopefully it works.
“Riddle corner,” begins Peter Oh. “What is the most popular summer fruit among Arsenal fans? Cherries!”
There’s got to be a Müller Corner gag in there somewhere.
City line up Maresca as Guardiola replacement
Pep Guardiola has informed Manchester City’s players that he will leave the club after Sunday’s final Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa.
The manager felt obliged to update his squad after news of his departure broke on Monday night, taking him by surprise while he was preparing for Tuesday’s match at Bournemouth.
Guardiola had hoped to keep his decision to leave City private for longer, so as not to provide a distraction. City need to beat Bournemouth to take the title race to the last day after Arsenal moved five points clear by defeating Burnley.
Guardiola is leaving after 10 years with a season remaining on his contract and City have identified Enzo Maresca as his replacement. Chelsea are in line for sizeable compensation for Maresca from City after the Italian’s acrimonious departure from Chelsea on New Year’s Day.
Preamble
Well that escalated quickly. This time yesterday, Pep Guardiola’s departure from Manchester City was but a tentative rumour. Now it is common knowledge, even if has yet to be officially confirmed. That should happen tonight when Guardola speaks either before or after City’s vital game at Bourbnemouth.
There’s still a chance Guardiola could leave English football with another treble on his CV. But if City are to take the title race to the last day, and test Arsenal’s nerve to the full, they need to overcome a Bournemouth side who are unbeaten in 16 Premier League games.
Bournemouth are also saying goodbye to arguably their greatest ever manager. Tonight is Andoni Iraola’s final home game, a chance to say goodbye in style: if Bournemouth get a point, they will qualify for Europe for the first time in their history.
Kick-off 7.30pm BST.
