There will be a familiar face not on the bench tonight when Manchester City host Lyon in the Champions League opener at the Etihad Stadium.
After swerving obvious questions about his legacy in the competition and leaving it to his assistant, Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola is preparing to debut this year’s competition without himself on sidelines.
The Spanish manager will serve his one-game suspension following his sending-off against Liverpool in last year’s competition.
Meeting prior to the game at the City Football Academy, the starting eleven and any tactical plans will be given to the players. So, how will City line up in their first game of this year’s Champions League season?
The first thing to address will be the injury doubts of the key players. While Kevin De Bruyne is an obvious absentee, the selection of Benjamin Mendy and Sergio Aguero are doubtful after they picked up slight injury problems in training and the victory against Fulham.
Fabian Delph is likely to deputise for the Frenchman after he trained this week following concerns of a knock in that victory against Fulham. Should he miss out though, it is likely to be Aymeric Laporte to be selected in the left-back position or Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has filled that position before.
Replacing Sergio Aguero is straightforward as he is unlikely to be risked with Gabriel Jesus given some minutes from a starting position.
The Brazilian will be hoping for some goals from his performance as he is struggled to find the back of the net this term.
Ederson, Fernandinho and Kyle Walker are all certainties for the game, while the centre-back, central midfield and wing positions could be rotated as we head into a crucial and hectic few months.
I expect John Stones and Laporte, providing he is not at left-back, to be in the central defence. The English defender was rested at the weekend and will likely be included to face Lyon’s tricky trio of Memphis Depay, Bernard Traore and Nabil Fekir.
In front of him, the two Silvas, David and Bernardo, are predicted to be retained due to their excellent form although I won’t be surprised if either Ilkay Gundogan or Phil Foden will replace one of the midfielders.
Many of the media outlets are predicting Riyad Mahrez to be included in the starting XI, and I agree, the Algerian needs an impressive performance to kick-start his Manchester City career and no better place to do it in the Champions League.
On the other side, Leroy Sane will keep his place after impressing and scoring against Fulham. The German has had a disappointing season so far after not starting prior to Fulham and dropped for the Newcastle win.
City will be hoping to kick-start their Champions League quest with three points, a victory that they are being priced as big favourites for the game.
Our predicted line-up:
Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Fabian Delph, Fernandinho, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus.