AFC Bournemouth
The Cherries travel to face Pep Guardiola's side who have started the season without defeat, winning all of their opening seven games.
Howe was complimentary on Guardiola’s start to life in Manchester, but believes if the Cherries play to their maximum potential, then they could surprise the Premier League leaders.
"It's a great challenge for us," Howe explained.
"I see Manchester City as potential champions. They have a manager who, in my opinion, is right at the very top - they've obviously started incredibly well.
"The impact that the new manager has had early on is the biggest compliment I can give him, he's stamped his authority on the team. I don’t usually say this about opponents but I enjoy watching them.
"We go there off the back of our first win for the season, it was a great day last Saturday. It will be a difficult game though, we're going to have to be at the very top of our game and they may have to have a day where they don’t perform so well, if those two things happen then we have a chance."
The Cherries boss goes into the game having given new signing Jack Wilshere his first competitive minutes in the victory over West Bromwich Albion last Saturday.
Howe believes the Arsenal loanee helped swing the weekend win in the Cherries’ favour but is keen not to rush him into the starting line-up.
"I was really pleased with Jack’s performance," he continued.
"He made a big impact at a time in the game when it was in the balance.
"We’d lost the full control we had in the first half, he helped us to wrestle that back and that was a big factor in us winning the game.
"He has outstanding quality, it’s a delicate balance – there’s no rush to put him in and we will put him in when it’s right. We’re thinking of the long term, we want him to play a lot of games for us this season."
Travelling to watch the game on Saturday? Here's all the information that you will need to know.
