Manchester City Predicted XI: We predict manager Pep Guardiola’s starting XI as City travel to newly-promoted Leeds United in the Premier League.

Manchester City Predicted XI: We predict manager Pep Guardiola’s starting XI as City travel to newly-promoted Leeds United in the Premier League.

The 5:30pm kick-off would definitely be seen as the ‘game of the day’ by most neutral football fans, with the match set to be a mouth-watering encounter.

City’s opponents Leeds United have started the season well, performing admirably at Anfield and winning their next two football matches taking them to 7th place.

Guardiola’s men were rocked last weekend losing 5-2 at home to Leicester City, which called for the Spaniard to dip into the transfer market and sign defender Ruben Dias for £64million from Benfica.

This match-up also sees Guardiola go head-to-head with Marcelo Biesla for the first time in England, two coaches who are widely thought of as two of the best in the game.

Here we predict Guardiola’s XI…

Goalkeeper:

Ederson: The first choice Brazilian will continue to keep his place between the sticks and Guardiola will be hoping his distribution will be key once again. The goalkeeper position is one of the only areas on the pitch where City do not have vast injuries problems.

Defenders:

All was looking well at City going into the Leicester game, having performed so well against Wolves in their opening Premier League game. However, the defensive performance against the Foxes was so bad, a big turnaround is needed for the Citizens from a defensive point of view. We expect Nathan Ake to retain his place alongside new signing Ruben Dias. Kyle Walker will remain at right back, but Benjamin Mendy will be replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Midfielders:

Emerging from David Silva’s shadow, England international Phil Foden is likely to be a key man for the Citizens this season. He will start alongside Rodri and Fernandinho to play the holding positions with players such as Gundogan and Bernardo Silva not available for selection.

Forwards:

Guardiola has an injury crisis in the forward positions with Sergio Aguero and now Gabriel Jesus unavailable for selection. That leave talisman Kevin de Bruyne who looked back to his scintillating best against Wolves last Monday night, to provide forward momentum for his side alongside Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez who will rotate in the ‘false nine’ position.

Predicted XI: Ederson, Walker, Ake, Dias, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Rodri, Foden; Sterling, De Bruyne, Mahrez