After enjoying an extended break following their World Cup exploits, Man City will welcome back Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku, Nico O'Reilly, Rayan Cherki and Marc Guehi on Wednesday. New signing Elliot Anderson will also join up with his new teammates for the first time. Rodri is also expected to return to training, despite intense speculation surrounding his future.
Man City are gearing up for their Community Shield fixture against Arsenal. While the Community Shield is often regarded as a glorified preseason friendly, both sides will be desperate to win and put the first marker down for the new season.
Man City have enjoyed a productive preseason. Their tour of Asia yielded wins against K League All Stars and Atletico Madrid, which followed a defeat on penalties to Inter Milan. It's becoming clear to see new boss Enzo Maresca's style of play. City look particularly impressive down the wings, with Antoine Semenyo especially looking in top form.
Semenyo bagged two assists against Atletico Madrid, with Omar Marmoush the recipient. One was particulary delicious, sliding in to keep the ball in play on the left hand side, before skillfully leaving his defender for dead and squaring it for Marmoush to finish. Whether he plays on the left or right, Semenyo causes problems. Semenyo on one side and Doku the other? There's very few sides in world soccer who can boast a wing pair like that.
The rumors surrounding the future of fellow winger Savinho continue to grow. This preseason summed up Savinho for me. Yes he can look dangerous, but that final ball, shot or decision is too often the wrong one.
Despite this, Savinho is likely to play some part in the Community Shield, likely to be off the bench. With the return of City's World Cup stars, Maresca will be looking to give as many of them as possible plenty of game time to prepare for their opening EPL game against Bournemouth.
That means that Jeremy Doku is likely to start, with Semenyo taking up the other wing. Haaland should start too, with O'Reilly taking up his position at left back. With Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol impressing in preseason, Marc Guehi might have to settle for a place on the bench for this one. Similarly, Rayan Cherki might also start as a substitute, but I'm expecting both to still take part in much of the game, potentially coming on at half time.
Man City's potential starting XI against Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday, August 16th:
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O' Reilly, Antoine Semenyo, Tijjani Reijnders, Elliot Anderson, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland
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