Manchester City Down to Just 15 Players for Hoffenheim Game

Manchester City have been forced to prepare for their important Champions League match at home against Hoffenheim with a mounting injury list

December is often considered as the meaty part of the Premier League season, as games come thick and fast and the weather closes in. These are the times when Champions often have to grind out results to remain in touching distance of the ultimate prize. The object here is to still be in contention for all the main competitions into the New Year.

Manchester City face an uphill battle in this regard. They have an onerous schedule – illustrated by this week they play Hoffenheim at 8pm on Wednesday and then play again against Everton at 1230 on Saturday. Liverpool meanwhile play at 8pm on Tuesday and their next match is not until Sunday 4pm, which is almost a day and a half extra for recovery.

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They face this gruelling schedule with an unprecedented injury list. At his Press conference today, Pep Guardiola detailed how he has a reduced number of players to pick from and how this is likely to effect his planning for both the deciding game in the Champions League but also the upcoming game with Everton.

Currently Claudio Bravo is out for the season. Benjamin Mendy is out for around 12 weeks as he recovers from further knee surgery. Kevin De Bruyne has not really featured at all this season, having broken down on his return, but it is believed he will be fit to start his reintegration to the first team after the Everton fixture. Kyle Walker has missed training this week through illness and may well not be available against Hoffenheim. Fernandinho has a muscle injury and is described as unavailable.

Sergio Aguero is still out with an abductor muscle injury, Danilo appears to be unavailable and now David Silva has tweaked his hamstring so will be out for 2-3 weeks.

All told this will mean the squad to face Hoffenheim will likely look more like an EFL Cup game than a Champions League squad and the danger is this may make our attempt to secure top spot in the Champions League group as problematic. Given the players available I expect Guardiola to launch a familiar 4-3-3 formation but the players on the pitch may be much changed.

Man City Square Predicted XI

Goalkeeper

Ederson

Defence

Stones, Otamendi, Laporte, Zinchenko

Midfield

Delph, Gundogan, Bernardo

Attack

Sterling, Jesus, Sane