Manchester City are now preparing for their third match of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
In their opening game of the season, City beat Chelsea 2-0 away from home thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovacic.
That was then followed up by a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town at the Etihad Stadium, with Kevin De Bruyne getting his first goal of the season in addition to seeing Haaland get his first hat-trick of the campaign.
With their next fixture seeing the Blues taking on West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday, Pep Guardiola should look to include one particular City player in his starting XI for this match.
Pep Guardiola must start Ilkay Gundogan in Man City vs West Ham
In the days prior to City’s home win against Ipswich, the Manchester club announced they had resigned Ilkay Gundogan just one year after seeing him join Barcelona as a free agent.
The midfielder then went on to make his second debut for the Citizens by coming on as a second-half substitute to replace Jeremy Doku in the 71st minute.
After the Ipswich game, Haaland admitted that he was delighted to see Gundogan return to City after winning the Treble with him during his debut season at the club.
Gundogan could be crucial against West Ham
During his first spell at City, the German scored 60 goals and delivered 38 assists in 304 appearances across all competitions.
This highlights the experience he has and the knowledge he possesses of how City play.
Across his La Liga campaign with Barcelona, the 33-year-old ended the season with the second-highest total of shot-creating actions (166) in the division.
In addition to that, Gundogan could be crucial for his side this weekend should the injury that forced Kovacic off the pitch against Ipswich end up keeping him sidelined for the game at West Ham, especially if Rodri is still unavailable as well.
Taking all of that on board, Guardiola should definitely give Gundogan his first start for the Blues since making his crowd-pleasing return to Manchester.
