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Preview: Bournemouth v Man City

Cape Town - Bournemouth host a rejuvenated Manchester City side in a Premiership encounter at the Vitality Stadium on Monday night.

The Cherries occupy 14th position on the table - six points off the relegation zone - and will look to put an end to their winless spell of five consecutive games in their league campaign, which has seen them concede a total of 16 goals in the process.

Much has been said about Bournemouth's recent defensive record, which will not stand them in good stead against a City outfit who are on the up, largely due to the form of new acquisition Gabriel Jesus, who has netted three and assisted as many in his last three games.

Romelu Lukaku netted four times to hand Everton 6-3 victory against Bournemouth in the Cherries' most recent league tie.

Eddie Howe confirmed the unavailability of goalkeeper Adam Federici, who is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines following surgery on damaged knee cartilage.

"It's a real blow for us to lose Adam," he said.

"But knowing his character, he will dig deep and work hard to get back to fitness.

Simon Francis, Adam Smith and Charlie Daniels all require late fitness tests to see if they will be available for the tie, whilst Callum Wilson will not feature as he is injured.

Manchester City are arguably back to their best following a three-game winning streak in the league, which has seen them score nine goals and conceding one in the process.

Pep Guardiola's charges occupy fifth spot on the table and victory can allow them to temporarily move into second position.

City secured a 2-1 victory against Swansea in their most recent encounter, with Jesus netting a memorable brace that included a 91st minute winner.

Guardiola has a fully fit City squad to choose from and is most likely to retain Jesus at the helm of their attack, and opting to utilise Sergio Aguero off the bench.

City goalkeeper Willy Caballero is confident that they can continue their fine form against Bournemouth, but is wary of the threat that they pose due to their recent form guide.

"It’s going to be great if we carry on with this amount of goals and the sort of form we’ve shown recently, but we know it’s going to be difficult to keep it this way," he told the club's website.

"We are playing away again and Bournemouth are coming into this game on the back of three or four defeats so they are going to play really hard and fight because they know you can get sucked into a relegation fight quickly in the Premier League.

"We must be careful and focus on what we have to do," he said.

The two sides face-off at 22:00.

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