Manchester City Starting XI vs Burnley: We predict Pep Guardiola’s starting team as they face-off against Burnley in their second game since returning to football.
Pep's city are on a roll.
Manchester City Starting XI vs Burnley: We predict Pep Guardiola’s starting team as they face-off against Burnley in their second game since returning to football.
Coming off the back of a fine 3-0 victory against Arsenal on Wednesday night, City will be hoping to gain a further three points tomorrow night.
Due to the long lay off from football, Pep will be keen to try and avoid any unnecessary injuries, and deep down will know there is very little chance of catching Liverpool in the race for the title.
But a loss would hand the Premier League title to Liverpool and that is something City will be desperate to avoid.
So which players will be tasked with the challenge of overcoming Burnley tomorrow? Here we predict Guardiola’s XI…
Goalkeeper: Ederson will keep his place in the team, despite his criticism for his accidental clash with team mate Eric Garcia midweek.
Defenders: We expect Guardiola to again start with a flat back four, because he rarely does anything else with his defence. He would have been delighted to see Aymeric Laporte back in action and will be keen to give the France international more minutes. The same goes for Benjamin Mendy, but we feel Nicolas Otamendi and Kyle Walker will be the other two.
Midfielders: Phil Foden will be likely to get a start in this game after coming off the bench on Wednesday night. And the imperious Kevin de Bruyne will keep his place. Germany international Ilkay Gundogan should be the other midfield player who remains in the starting XI.
Forwards: It feels as though Pep doesn’t even know who he is going to start upfront from game to game, as Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus continue to battle it out for a starting place. However, Aguero’s goalscoring form against the smaller sides is superb so we think he’ll get the nod with Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez either side.
Predicted XI: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Mendy, Foden, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Mahrez, Sterling, Aguero