Manchester City are hosting Brentford on Tuesday night and are seeking to get to within just one point of Liverpool in the Premier League.
City finally played their game in hand against the Bees, which had to be rescheduled due to City’s involvement in the Club World Cup back in December.
After drawing 1-1 with Chelsea on Saturday night, there will be a strong desire for three points here.
City beat Brentford 3-1 earlier this month thanks to a Phil Foden hat-trick at the Gtech Community Stadium and fans would love to see a similarly dominant display at the Etihad.
Here’s a team Pep Guardiola could go with, with a few changes expected due to a quick turnaround…
Predicted Manchester City XI vs Brentford – Pep makes two changes as Julian Alvarez drops to the bench
Ederson made an error last week against FC Copenhagen but recovered to put in a strong performance against Chelsea and will no doubt start against Brentford.
It is always very tough to predict the backline. Ruben Dias is probably the only nailed-on pick.
Kyle Walker will probably retain his place at right-back and we may see John Stones, 29, return to the starting XI at the expense of Manuel Akanji, after being rested on Saturday. Left-back will surely be Nathan Ake, with Josko Gvardiol currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
In midfield, Rodri – hailed as the best midfielder in the world at the weekend by Pep Guardiola – will certainly start.
Many City fans would no doubt like to see two attacking midfielders in Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden.
Foden scoring a hat-trick against Brentford last time playing centrally surely has to be something for Pep to consider.
Out wide, £43 million star Bernardo Silva surely has to return to the starting XI on the right if he’s fit enough. He came off the bench against Chelsea and so should be relatively fresh.
On the left, Jeremy Doku could keep his place with Jack Grealish out injured, although some City fans would probably like to see Oscar Bobb given a chance here.
And through the middle, Pep is surely not about to drop Erling Haaland to the bench – if anything, the Norwegian will be even hungrier than usual to score against the Bees, after missing a string of chances against Chelsea.
Such a team would mean Julian Alvarez not starting in the Premier League for City for the first time this season. Pep said at the weekend that the ‘extraordinary’ Argentine has been deserving of his many minutes this season, but the £14 million signing arguably shouldn’t be shoehorned into the team when Foden, De Bruyne and Haaland are all playing.
City should have enough to topple Brentford at home, but we have obviously seen how effective Ivan Toney can be – he helped the Bees score without even touching the ball in the reverse fixture, so the City defenders will need to bring their A-games.
Man City predicted line-up vs Brentford – Ederson/Walker, Stones, Dias, Ake/Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne/Bernardo, Haaland, Doku.
