Manchester City Starting XI: We predict Pep Guardiola’s starting team as they travel down to the South Coast to face Brighton & Hove Albion
Pep's city are on a roll.
Manchester City Starting XI: We predict Pep Guardiola’s starting team as they travel down to the South Coast to face Brighton & Hove Albion.
City are in a strange position in the league, where they know they have got second place pretty much secure and have very little to play for.
That being said, they are still in the hunt for a treble season, having won the League Cup and in the latter stages of the Champions League and FA Cup.
Manager Pep Guardiola is not a huge fan of huge squad rotation, but will want to rest certain players in League matches to keep his squad fresh.
Tonight’s hosts Brighton are fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the table and know that every point is crucial at this stage, despite their 8-point gap from the dropzone.
So which players will be tasked with the challenge of overcoming the Seagulls tonight? Here we predict Guardiola’s XI…
Goalkeeper: Ederson will keep his place in the team, his incredible talents with the ball at his feet has been rightly praised since the return of football.
Defenders: John Stones received his first minutes since lockdown in City’s last outing against Newcastle where the Citizens on 5-0. We expect Stones to start alongside Nicolas Otamendi with Kyle Walker deployed from right back and Ukranian Oleksandr Zinchenko on the other side.
Midfielders: Phil Foden will be likely to come out of the team tonight, as Pep never seems to play him week after week. Therefore we’ll see Rodri play alongside Ilkay Gundogan with the master that is Kevin De Bruyne tasked to link the attack in this incredble City side.
Forwards: It feels as though Pep doesn’t even know who he is going to start upfront from game to game. However, with Sergio Aguero injured we think Gabriel Jesus will get the start, with Raheem Sterling on the left and Ryiad Mahrez playing from the right.
Predicted XI: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Stones, Zinchenko, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus