Which players made the train?
This morning a group of Manchester City players waited to catch the train south to London, huddled against the elements in a variety of Club branded sportswear. Fans seized the opportunity to catch photographs of the players at Manchester Piccadilly station.
Some were quick to notice exactly which players seemed to be travelling and therefore part of match day squad for tonight’s game against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium. And there were also some absences meaning that potentially it may be easier to guess Pep Guardiola’s starting 11.
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The group of City players were all sporting recently released Nike kit items, including N98 jackets, tracksuit, Windrunners and Gilets. In fact Pep Guardiola was wearing a grey check flat cap, making him look like a hipster.
Last season away travel required the players to model the latest wear from Club sponsor the Italian fashion house, DSquared. But this has not been the case so far this season leaving the players sporting a wide range of attire at the train station.
There were three goalkeepers in the travelling party- Erderson and the 2 young players Muric and Daniel Grimshaw. The defence included Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Nicolas Otamendi, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones. The midfielders included Phil Foden, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne. Attackers who travelled included Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez.
The notable absentees were therefore Danilo who has returned to training and may well feature against Fulham on Thursday. Ilkay Gundogan is another player who did not travel. He is also reportedly carrying a hamstring injury and has been unavailable for the last month.
Fabian Delph has not travelled and again I believe he has been present at first team training. Zinchenko has also been fit but does not seem to have travelled at all. Finally the remains missing player is Brahim Diaz. Despite his undoubted talent Diaz remains locked in a contract dispute and refusing to sign a new contract, meaning he is free to sign a pre contract agreement with another club from January 2019.
All in all the travelling squad for the Spurs game is very strong and hopefully they will be returning to Manchester with 3 points.