Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the Premier League clash between champions Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium.
The hosts come into this match sitting two points clear at the top of the table and with the chance to extend their lead over their closest challengers today as the rest of the top five do not play until Sunday.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, have enjoyed an encouraging start to the campaign but suffered a miserable November which saw them lose all three of their Premier League matches.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of the action courtesy of our minute-by-minute updates below.
These two sides have both enjoyed good starts to the campaign by their own standards, with City once again leading the way and Bournemouth sitting pretty in the top half a third into the campaign. This match should be a good, open and attacking contest between two teams who like to play expansive football, so we will hopefully be in for an exciting encounter here!
Let's start with a look at the team news...
Manager Pep Guardiola hinted that he would rotate his squad for this match, and he has certainly done that, taking the opportunity to rest a few of his biggest names. Aguero is the biggest casualty as he is given the afternoon off completely, while the in-form David Silva only makes the bench.
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Sterling in particular has been in excellent form this season, and he has a formidable record against Bournemouth too; the winger has scored in all five of his Premier League games against the Cherries, netting seven goals in total, and another today would see him become the first player in Premier League history to score in each of his first six appearances against a particular club.
Behind that front three, Bernardo Silva returns in midfield after missing the past two games with a minor injury, joining Jesus in recovering in time to start today.
Otamendi, Gundogan, Bernardo and Jesus also come into the team just to showcase City's incredible strength in depth, as Stones, Silva, Mahrez and Aguero drop out.
Indeed, the defender makes his first Premier League start of the season, and the teamsheet released by Bournemouth suggests that it will come at the heart of the defence too - an unfamiliar position to come up against a devastating City attack.
Daniels actually scored against City at the Vitality Stadium last season so may have one eye on getting forward too, but there is no doubt that they will need to be in defensive mode for the most part.
Lewis Cook comes into the midfield in his place, while Mings and Andrew Surman also come into the team ad Gosling and Brooks - the latter of whom has been in fine form of late - drop out of the team.
Josh King has also been in decent goalscoring form this term and notched on his return to the side against Arsenal last time out with a stunning effort which nestled into the top corner at the end of a lightning counter-attack.
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The air of invincibility surrounding Pep Guardiola's side was damaged by Lyon for the second time this season in midweek as they earned a 2-2 draw, but domestically there doesn't seem to be any stopping them right now.
Today is a real chance for them to put more pressure on those below them too, as the rest of the top five do not play until tomorrow. City currently have a two-point lead at the top, but victory here would extend that to five ahead of Liverpool's derby against Everton tomorrow.
Scoring in general has not been a problem at all for Guardiola's side, though, with their 4-0 rout of West Ham last weekend taking them up to 40 for the season from their opening 13 games - a average of more than three per game.
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Incredibly, only one of those goals have come from open play too - against Newcastle on September 1 - with two coming from penalties and the other two from other set pieces.
Should Man City avoid a massive upset today then it would be the third time that they have gone on an unbeaten run of 20+ games in the Premier League, with only Manchester United (seven times) and Arsenal (four times) managing it more often.
Indeed, that Premier League home winning run stretches back to eight matches including the tail end of last season, while they have only lost one of their last 38 in front of their own fans - winning 31 of those.
Another reason behind their dominance is their ability to hold on to a lead, and they are the only club in the Premier League this season yet to drop a point from a winning position. Indeed, they haven't conceded a single goal in the final half an hour of games yet this term.
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Their previous record against City - and particularly at this stadium - suggests that he perhaps should be, but on the whole Bournemouth will be feeling good about themselves have enjoyed an impressive campaign so far.
Bournemouth had only lost three of their previous 13 Premier League outings prior to this alarming dip in form, and while the Etihad may not be the best place to reverse such a slide, Eddie Howe will know that his side need to turn things back around sooner rather than later.
Bournemouth are already halfway to the magic 40-point mark and sit three points closer to the top four than the relegation zone. Survival will still be Bournemouth's number one goal this season, but they can begin dreaming bigger if they continue how they have started this season.
Ominously, all four of those previous four-game losing streaks or more have included a defeat at the hands of Manchester City, and their hopes will not be particularly high of avoiding the same fate today.
The Cherries have remarkable also never lost an away Premier League against the reigning champions, beating Chelsea in 2015-16 and 2017-18 and drawing with Leicester in 2016-17.
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The Cherries often raise their game against the biggest opponents, then, although they have now lost their last six matches against members of the 'big six', stretching back to a 3-0 win over Chelsea in January.
Bournemouth are in the midst of a difficult run of fixtures at the moment too, with matches against Manchester United (twice), Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool Chelsea and Tottenham among their final 11 outings of 2018.
It is hard to see anything other than a home win today in truth. Man City have been in such good form of late, particularly at home, while Bournemouth have fallen out of form at just the wrong time for this fixture.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Man City 4-0 Bournemouth
Well, not when it comes to the head-to-head record for sure as they have lost all six of their previous Premier League meetings with Man City, scoring just twice and conceding 21 times in the process.
The best the Cherries have managed has been a draw - on two occasions - but they have lost 10 of their previous 12 clashes against today's opponents.
The most recent of those was a 4-0 defeat last December when Aguero helped himself to a brace, while the Cherries lost by the same scoreline here last season and were beaten 5-1 on their first visit to the stadium.
MAN CITY STARTING XI: Ederson; Danilo, Laporte, Otamendi, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, Gundogan, Bernardo; Sane, Sterling, Jesus
BOURNEMOUTH STARTING XI: Begovic; S Cook, Minga, Ake; Francis, L Cook, Surman, Daniels; King, Wilson, Fraser
Zinchenko clipped the ball over the top for Sane, who got there ahead of a slightly hesitant Begovic. Begovic still manages to thwart Sane's touch, but the ball drops kindly for Bernardo to tuck home a confident finish into the empty net.
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It is a really good header from Wilson too as he strains every sinew to divert Francis's cross past Ederson, having beaten Otamendi in the air. Game on at the Etihad!
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The hosts dominated for the vast majority of the match and looked in complete control until Bournemouth began to come back into it towards the end of the first half.
The ball dropped loose into the area, though, and Bernardo was alive to the possibility and fired a confident first-time finish into an empty net to give City the lead.
Wilson climbed highest in the area but still had a lot to do after beating Otamendi in the air, diverting his effort beyond a helpless Ederson.
12 - Callum Wilson has been directly involved in 12 goals in his last 15 Premier League appearances (8 goals, 4 assists). Flourish. pic.twitter.com/s3kCB22hzn
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 1, 2018
The winger gives the ball to Danilo, whose low drive draws a save from Begovic. However, the Bournemouth keeper parries it out into a dangerous area and Sterling has continued his run into the box, where he is waiting to tuck home the rebound.
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Raheem Sterling has now scored in all 6 of his Premier League appearances against Bournemouth (total 8 goals). He is now the outright leading PL goalscorer versus the Cherries (Romelu Lukaku next 7). #MCIBOU #ManCity
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) December 1, 2018
6 - Raheem Sterling is the first player in @premierleague history to score in his first six appearances against a single opponent, netting in all six of his games for Man City against Bournemouth. Haunting. pic.twitter.com/OejOVPDNPX
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 1, 2018
Silva is immediately involved as he slides a lovely pass inside the full-back for Sane, who reaches the byline before firing a low cross into the box. Gundogan is waiting there and applies a simple finish, wrapping up all three points for the hosts.
In the end it was all fairly routine for the hosts, although they were given a scare when Wilson cancelled out Bernardo's opener at the end of the first half. However, goals from Sterling and Gundogan after the break wrapped up all three points for the home side.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for today's Premier League clash as City move five points clear at the top of the table by beating Bournemouth. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!