Bournemouth coach Eddie Howe believes that his relegated team can surprise when he visits Manchester City in the English Premier League football today (23.15 Emirates time).
With a big 4-1 victory over Leicester City (Sunday), Bournemouth's first victory in 10 league matches, Coach Howe's team kept their hopes of staying in the limelight for the sixth season in a row.
But he remains in 18th place, three points behind Watford and West Ham United in the safety zone, and will meet rivals on Friday.
Bournemouth will play with Southampton, then end the season against Everton, but Howe aspires to a positive result against City, despite a 5-0 loss in the last two encounters against coach Pep Guardiola's team.
City have won all their previous nine league games against Bournemouth. Howe told a press conference yesterday: "The City match is different from any other league game. "The opponent has exceptional abilities, an amazing coach and great players."
He added, "It will be a heavy task, but I believe that the required result can be achieved if we work together." And about the speculation that defender Nathan Aki will not be able to finish until the end of the season due to a thigh injury, Hao said: “It is not a serious injury, and I don’t know if he will participate again this season. "It cannot be confirmed or denied."
Bournemouth is also missing trio Chris Mifam, Simon Francis and Adam Smith on visiting City.