Manchester City and Bournemouth are both about to begin new eras, with both clubs heading into the 2026-27 Premier League season with new managers.
City are adjusting to life without Pep Guardiola, following the departure of the Catalan whose decade-long stay at City changed English football, while Andoni Iraola left Bournemouth at the end of last season and is now head coach of Liverpool.
Under Iraola, the Cherries qualified for Europe for the first time in their history and played arguably some of the best football in the league.
Over at City, Enzo Maresca is now the man in the dugout but his tenure got off to a nightmare start with a bruising 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield last weekend.
And at Bournemouth, Marco Rose -- formerly of RB Leipzig -- has taken over the reins.
City's squad is undergoing quite a few changes, too, as stalwart midfielder Rodri has left for Barcelona, long-serving defender John Stones has gone to Inter Milan on a free, Bernardo Silva is now at Real Madrid, while Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké, Tijjani Reijnders and James Trafford have all departed.
Elliot Anderson joined this summer in a club-record deal.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, lost key defender Marcos Senesi on a free transfer to Tottenham but have brought in Álvaro Rodríguez from Elche, António Silva from Benfica and Juanlu Sanchez from Sevilla.
They will, however, be missing star man Eli Junior Kroupi who is set for around three months on the sidelines after undergoing surgery for a foot injury.
But the Cherries have shown before that they are capable of adapting to change, as they bounced back brilliantly last season from the losses of Antoine Semenyo, Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and more.
Man City (4-2-3-1)
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O'Reilly, Josko Gvardiol, Rúben Dias, Abdukodir Khusanov, Elliot Anderson, Mateo Kovavic, Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Erling Haaland
City endured a bruising beginning to Maresca's reign with the comprehensive defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield. There is a great deal of changing taking place at the Etihad right now but there a few names that are certain to be on the teamsheet for City's opening Premier League fixture.
Donnarumma is No. 1, as he was last season, and will start this match. The back-line is highly likely to be the same as the one that started in the Community Shield, with Marc Guéhi having only recently returned to training following an extended World Cup break after his exploits with England.
In midfield, Anderson will likely start again following his big-money move from Nottingham Forest, along with Kovačić and Foden.
On the wings, you can expect to see Semenyo starting but Jeremy Doku is out, after his second-half substitution in the Community Shield. Perhaps we'll see Jack Grealish playing for City in the Premier League again, or maybe Rayan Cherki will be used out wide.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1)
Djordje Petrovic, Adrien Truffert, James Hill, António Silva, Juanlu Sanchez, Lewis Cook, Alex Tóth, Marcus Tavernier, Justin Kluivert, Rayan, Evanilson
Bournemouth haven't made a huge amount of changes to their squad this summer, with their midfield and forward line largely staying the same -- although they are having to navigate the start to the season without Kroupi, due to his foot injury.
Petrovic was an excellent No. 1 for the Cherries last season and is nailed on to start the first game of the new season. There have been a few new recruits in defence this summer, though, and it's likely that new boys Silva and Sanchez will be in Bournemouth's starting backline at the weekend.
Truffet and Hill, two solid defenders, will probably keep their places and start this match.
Cook and Tóth started together in midfield in Bournemouth's final preseason game against Mainz and are likely to start together again against City, while Kluivert will most likely start in the No. 10 role.
On the wings, Tavernier and Brazilian wonderkid Rayan will be deployed, while up front it is likely to be Evanilson leading the line -- but the Cherries did sign a new striker in Álvaro Rodríguez this summer and he may well make an appearance at some point against City.