Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has made four changes to his side for the visit of Southampton as the injury-hit champions look to move top – temporarily at least – of the Premier League table.
City claimed a 5-0 win away at Sparta Prague in the Champions League midweek and while Guardiola’s matchday squad remains the same, he has tweaked his starting XI.
Coming back in the side are goalkeeper Ederson, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic, who replace Stefan Ortega, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Ilkay Gundogan.
Guardiola keeps the faith with Nunes
Perhaps the most notable call from Guardiola is his decision to retain Matheus Nunes in his starting line-up, with the Portuguese again set to feature on the left, as he did midweek.
Nunes made an impressive late cameo in Sunday’s last-gasp win over his former club Wolves and will be looking to nail down a regular place in the City starting line-up while the club deal with a host of injury issues.
There has also been a shake-up at the back following the Champions League victory, while Erling Haaland will be looking to break his three-match Premier League duck after scoring a sublime backwards flick midweek.
Phil Foden makes just his second Premier League start of the season so far.
City have only named five outfield players on the bench, with the likes of Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne Jeremy Doku, Kyle Walker, Oscar Bobb and Rodri all sidelined.
Manchester City’s confirmed XI to face Southampton: Ederson, Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Silva, Foden, Savinho, Nunes, Haaland
Subs: Stones, Ake, Ortega, Gundogan, Carson, O’Reilly, McAtee
Southampton XI: Ramsdale, Walker-Peters, Manning, Downes, Stephens, Harwood-Bellis, Lallana, Fernandes, Archer, Dibling, Bednarek.
Subs: McCarthy, Aribo, Armstrong, Bree, Sugawara, Sulemana, Cornet, Ugochukwu, Onuachu.
