Maresca urges inflatable bananas for City’s Ipswich home opener; Alonso wants clean sheets

In the Manchester City’s first Premier League home match after a guilty verdict over financial breaches, Enzo Maresca urged fans to bring inflatable bananas for Saturday’s game against Ipswich. The Italian said: “Very nice… I hope tomorrow I can see many bananas in the stadium.” The gesture nods to how City fans used the joke in the 1980s and 1990s during the club’s second- and third-tier spells. Maresca also linked the idea to winning, saying “we need to make our noise.”

City and Chelsea in focus

After dropping points for the first time as City boss—losing 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League—City arrive top of the league, three points ahead of Arsenal. A win would make Maresca the first manager to win their first seven Premier League games with a club.

At Chelsea, Xabi Alonso is preparing for Everton while stressing clean sheets, but will be without Reece James for three months after knee surgery. Alonso praised the attacking side in a 5-1 win over Bournemouth last weekend, making tactical tweaks with Moisés Caicedo returning to play alongside Jordan Henderson. “You need a lot of clean sheets to win trophies,” he said, adding that Caicedo-Henderson chemistry could be built with Roméo Lavia and Valentín Barco as well.