With the latest international break at the midway point, let’s take a look at our version of Manchester City’s best starting XI so far this season.
The Citizens currently find themselves at the top of the Premier League table with 28 points having won nine of their 12 games.
Having also secured their place in the round of 16 in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s side are in a fairly positive place at the moment.
With no club football to consume this weekend, this has given us the chance to reflect on the season so far and put together a starting XI of who have been City’s best performers.
City’s best starting XI this season
In goal, having started all but one of City’s Premier League and Champions League games in this campaign and kept five clean sheets in total, it would have to be Ederson to pick for this XI.
Moving into the defence, at right-back, Kyle Walker has proven how much of a positive it was for the Citizens to keep hold of him over the summer amid transfer links to Bayern Munich.
Having played every minute of Premier League action this season and donning the captain’s armband for the majority of the campaign, the Englishman has been a stalwart in City’s side.
For the two centre-back positions, we feel that Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji have both shown how crucial they are for the team, having made more clearances (27 & 17) in the league than any other players in the squad.
At left-back, Josko Gvardiol has already proven himself to be a top signing for the club and shown why they were right to splash out £77m to sign him from RB Leipzig in the summer.
With the Croatian making more interceptions (11) in the league than any other player in the squad, he has given Nathan Ake serious competition for a place in Guardiola’s side.
Moving onto the midfield, aside from the frustrating red card he picked up against Nottingham Forest that led to him missing City’s league games against Wolves and Arsenal, Rodri has once again showed how important he is for the side.
With three goals and two assists under his belt across 10 league appearances, the Spaniard is currently has the second-highest overall season rating at the club, with WhoScored giving him a rating of 7.62/10.
Alongside Rodri, we think Bernardo Silva and Julian Alvarez have both shown their quality in terms of their goal contributions and overall performances.
Specifically, the duo have racked up a combined total of 14 goals and assists between them in the league and are currently listed in the top six of City’s highest rated players for the season according to WhoScored.
Switching to the attacking positions, the first player worth listing is Phil Foden, who, having played across numerous attacking and midfield roles this season, has once again shown how much quality he brings to City’s team.
Across the 12 Premier League games he has featured in, the Englishman has made more passes into the penalty area (21) than any other City player, showing how useful he has been in terms of setting up goalscoring opportunities in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne.
Another attacking spark that has settled into the club just as effortlessly as Gvardiol is Jeremy Doku, who since joining City from Rennes in the summer for £55m, has scored three goals and delivered six assists in 14 appearances across all competitions.
Given how prominent Jack Grealish was in City’s side last season, seeing Doku hit the ground running at City has given the Englishman severe competition for a place in the team.
Finally, there’s no way Erling Haaland couldn’t be in this XI. 17 goals scored in 18 appearances this season has seen the Norwegian carry on from where he left off from last season’s incredible debut campaign at the Etihad.
City’s best starting XI so far this season: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Silva, Foden, Alvarez, Doku, Haaland
