Manchester City vs Ipswich LIVE commentary: Rodri to return as champions take on Tractor Boys – kick-off time, team news and talkSPORT coverage

Manchester City continue their latest bid for Premier League glory this weekend as they host Ipswich, exclusively live on talkSPORT 2. 

The reigning champions began their fourth straight title defence with a 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Sunday.

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Goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic got them off to a winning start, but now all eyes will be turning to the Etihad.

Pep Guardiola’s side’s first home game of the season sees the visit of Ipswich who began their first top-flight campaign in 22 years with a loss to Liverpool.

Man City vs Ipswich: Can’t stop scoring 

Haaland’s stats for Man City are simply ridiculous. 

He has now reached 100 games for the club and in those appearances, he has amazingly contributed to 106 goals. 

The Norweigan has netted 91 times and provided 15 assists with an average of a goal contribution every 76 minutes. 

As part of his 91 goals, he’s scored nine hat-tricks too. 

Alongside the personal success, Haaland has also won five major trophies at the club and he’s aiming for multiple more this season. 

For Ipswich, the prospect of facing him will fill them with fear and rightly so…

Haaland has scored against all 22 teams he’s played against in the Premier League and now the Tractor Boys are his newest prey. 

He’ll be looking to make that stat all 23 teams he’s come up against this weekend and if he does score it will take him to 14 goals in 10 top-flight appearances during the month of August. 

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• This will be Ipswich’s first-ever meeting with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium – they won their last two visits to Maine Road, winning a  Premier League game 3-2 in November 2000 and a League Cup tie 2-1 the  following month.
• This will be the first Premier League meeting between Man City and Ipswich  since the 2000-01 campaign, when they were both newly promoted sides.  The Tractor Boys won both games that term, with their 2-1 home win  confirming the Citizens’ relegation to the second tier.

Man City vs Ipswich: Team news 

There will be some concern over new signing Savinho for Man City after the Brazilian was substituted against Chelsea due to a knock. 

Phil Foden replaced him and could potentially come into the starting line-up if deemed fit enough after limited training sessions. 

Jack Grealish is recovering from an issue while Kyle Walker, John Stones and Nathan Ake played no part at Stamford Bridge despite being on the bench. 

A huge boost for City could be the return of Rodri who is now back in training, but Oscar Bobb will be sidelined until December. 

As for Ipswich, Wes Burns limped off against Liverpool and may be a doubt for this game. 

New arrivals Sammie Szmodics and Jens Cajuste may be handed some minutes while Kalvin Phillips won’t be available against his parent club. 

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• Bernardo Silva’s assist for Erling Haaland in Man City’s opening weekend victory was his 43rd in the Premier League, the joint-most of any Portuguese player in the competition’s history (level with Nani).
• Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna will be the 14th different manager whose first-ever Premier League away game came against the reigning champions. None of the previous 13 have won (D2 L11), with Mark McGhee (1-1 v Man Utd in  1994) and Claudio Ranieri (3-3 v Man Utd in 2000) the only ones to earn a point.

Man City vs Ipswich: What has been said? 

After beating Chelsea, Man City boss Guardiola admitted that he ‘didn’t expect’ to perform so well at Stamford Bridge. 

He said: “I didn’t expect it. We are away from our best so three points is the good news. The bad news is we have 65 games ahead of us.

“We have an advantage, it’s our ninth season together so we know each other well.

“Of course, there are mistakes you have to improve but we talked, the difference in being champions was our body language, how did we behave?

“It’s the bad moments in the season and in the games that define the big teams.

“For me, it is an honour to be in charge of these guys. I’m so fortunate, I could not say more.

“There is a plan, defensive, offensive. But afterwards, it’s how we celebrate the good moments and come back from the bad moments.

“That’s what defines these teams and no one talks about it. For a while we could never win at Stamford Bridge. This is a big step.”

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• Manchester City have won 17 of their last 18 Premier League games against promoted sides (D1) since a 2-1 home loss to Leeds in April 2021.
• Ipswich haven’t scored in any of their last seven away league games against the reigning top-flight champions (D1 L6), losing the last three by an aggregate score of 15-0. They last scored in such a game in April 1984  (2-2 v Liverpool), while their last such victory was in October 1981  (1-0 v Aston Villa).

Man City vs Ipswich: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League clash will take place on Saturday, August 24. 

Kick-off at the Etihad Stadium is scheduled for 3pm. 

talkSPORT 2 will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game presented by Faye Carruthers. 

Commentary will come from Ian Danter and former Arsenal winger Perry Groves. 

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

talkSPORT.com will also keep you up to date with the action in our Premier League live blog.