Skip to content

David v Goliath? Comparing Man City and Bournemouth

Manchester City's Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne (R) vies with Bournemouth's English defender Simon Francis (L) during the English Premier League footb

As the side with the smallest Premier League stadium welcomes one of the richest clubs in the world live on Sky Sports, we compare Bournemouth and Man City.

One of football's great "rising from the ashes" stories, the Cherries have come from administration in 2008 to establishing themselves as a Premier League club in just eight years.

City themselves have suffered relegation in their history, but are now ranked by Forbes as the world's sixth-most valuable football club, worth a reported £1.29bn.

As the two sides prepare to face each other in England's top flight live on Monday Night Football, we compare the two clubs who operate in very different ways...

The stadiums

The Vitality Stadium

The stadium has been home to Bournemouth since 1910 and has a capacity of just over 11,460 making it the only ground in the Premier League to have less than 20,000 seats.

But their stay at the Vitality Stadium could be coming to the end as the club have announced that they will be looking for to build a new ground away from the current site, targeting the start of the 2020/21 season.

Also See:

The Etihad Stadium

City moved from Maine Road in the summer of 2013 into their current home, which is the fourth-largest stadium in the Premier League with a capacity of just over 55,000.

Live Monday Night Football

Used for a number of different events from boxing matches to hosting games during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the Etihad is set to be expanded to a capacity of 61,000 in 2017 when a third tier is added to the North Stand.

This will make it the second-largest stadium in England's top flight behind Old Trafford.

The managers

Eddie Howe

One of only four English managers in the Premier League, Eddie Howe has twice been manager at Bournemouth, the first time coming between 2008 and 2011 before leaving for Burnley, before he returned to the club in October 2012.

He has been at the club for over four years, winning promotion to the Championship in his first season back with the Cherries and since guiding them into the Premier League.

He was named as the Football League Manager of the Decade in 2015 and is regularly tipped as a future England manager.

Pep Guardiola

After a stellar playing career, Guardiola has taken his success as a defensive midfielder into his managerial tenures, winning 22 club trophies and 19 individual awards.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Highlights from Man City's 4-0 win over Bournemouth earlier this season

He burst onto the scene at Barcelona in 2008, winning three consecutive La Liga titles as well as two Champions League and Copa del Rey trophies during his four-year stay, before having similar success with Bayern Munich, winning the Bundesliga in each of his three seasons at the Allianz Arena.

Guardiola arrived at City in the summer of 2016 - announced as Manuel Pellegrini's successor in February of the same year - although has struggled to fully implement his philosophy, and recently suffered a run of six games without a victory, which is the worst of his managerial career.

The squads

Bournemouth - £66.14m

According to TransferMarkt.com, Bournemouth's Premier League squad has cost them a total of £66.14m.

Only nine of their 26 players cost more than £1million and two cost more than £10m with the remainder moving for under £1m, or on free transfers.

Most expensive player - Jordon Ibe (Liverpool to Bournemouth - £15m)

The former Reds winger made the south coast move in the 2016 summer transfer window, but he has not quite had the impact the Cherries would have wanted, making just 12 appearances.

BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 14:  Jordan Ibe of AFC Bournemouth in action during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Manchester United  a
Image: Jordon Ibe moved to Bournemouth from Liverpool in the summer

"He hasn't been a regular in the team and that will be a disappointment for him and for us. I still feel there's a lot of potential in there, but obviously he's got to fulfil that," Howe said after Bournemouth's FA Cup exit in January.

Man City - £526.1m

Approximately eight times as expensive as Bournemouth's team, the Transfermarkt.com fees add up to an eye-watering figure of £526.1m spent on City's Premier League squad.

There are only three players who do not have a multi-million pound price tag of their heads. Goalkeeper Angus Gunn and striker Kelchi Iheanacho are both academy products while Bacary Sanga moved on a free transfer in 2014.

Most expensive player - Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg to Man City - £54m)

Kevin De Bruyne in action during the match against Sunderland
Image: Kevin de Bruyne has been in fine form for Man City since his move from Wolfsburg

With a cool £39m more spent than the Cherries splashed on Ibe, the highly-rated De Bruyne arrived at City in the summer of 2015, and was the most expensive player in the Premier League until the arrival of Paul Pogba a year later.

The Belgium international has featured in 23 of 24 Premier League fixtures this season with four goals and 11 assists.

The trophies

Most of Bournemouth's accolades come from their promotions through the lower divisions, with their most recent being their promotion from the Championship as the league winners in the 2014/15 season.

They have also been runners-up in League One and League Two twice as well as being crowned champions of the League One equivalent in the 1986/87 season with a League Two play-off victory in 2002/03.

Tyler's stats: The rise of Jesus
Tyler's stats: The rise of Jesus

Martin Tyler returns with his weekly column, including the rise of Gabriel Jesus.

Since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008, City have had a number of domestic cup successes, winning the Premier League twice in the 2011/12 and 2013/14 season, the FA Cup during the 2010/11 term and two League Cup victories in 2013/14 and 2015/16.

But the club also have lower league titles to their names with seven Championship and League One-equivalent winners trophies - the last coming in 2001/02 - as well as four further FA Cup wins, two League Cup wins and Community Shield success on four occasions.

International experience

Bournemouth have six players who feature a first-team level for their countries, including England midfielder Jack Wilshere, the Republic of Ireland's Harry Arter and two Australia internationals in Adam Federici and Brad Smith.

Josh King (Norway) and Artur Boruc (Poland) make up the contingent, who have 159 caps between them, with a number of players also making youth team appearances.

Who will go down?
Who will go down?

We take a detailed look at the battle for survival and what factors could determine who goes down.

Man City are in more illustrious international company, boasting two World Cup and European Championship winners in their squad with David Silva and Jesus Navas both in the Spain team that lifted the trophies in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

Aside from Gunn, who is an England U21 international, each player in the team has played for their country's first team, with four players having already retired from international duty - Yaya Toure, Gael Clichy, Fernando and Willy Caballero.

Watch the two sides in action live on Sky Sports as Bournemouth host Man City on Monday Night Football from 7pm.

Around Sky