Yahoo Sports Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Club Brugge (UEFA Champions League)
Manchester City face a mammoth night in European competition this week with their fate in the UEFA Champions League hanging in the balance.
Having lost three of their last four matches in the league phase of the competition, drawing the remaining outing, City find themselves lingering inside the elimination zone, and know that they must win on matchday eight in order to secure a play-off place for the last-16.
Last time out was another drab performance from the 2023 winners of the tournament, having taken a 0-2 lead early in the second-half against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, only to concede four goals in succession to Luis Enrique’s squad.
Next up is Belgian giants Club Brugge, who travel to the Etihad Stadium in remarkably good form, having recorded no defeats in any of their last 20 matches across competitions, but could do with points on the board to cement a place in the last-16 play-off round this week.
Oscar Bobb may make his long-awaited return to the Manchester City matchday squad this week having spent five months on the sidelines recovering from a leg bone fracture, while all of Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Rodri, and Jeremy Doku are ruled out through injury.
Ahead of Manchester City’s upcoming UEFA Champions League clash on matchday eight of the league phase against Club Brugge, here is how we predict Pep Guardiola will line-up his side at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night!
Predicted XI
In goal, we believe that Ederson will continue his run between the sticks having seemingly displaced Stefan Ortega Moreno in recent matches after a string of strong performances from the Germany international when called-upon.
As for the defensive unit that will be put together by Pep Guardiola this evening, we think Rico Lewis may remain out of the line-up as the Manchester City coach continues to put faith into Matheus Nunes and his developing performances in a new role for the Portuguese midfielder.
With Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis both ineligible at this stage of the competition, Guardiola has no choice when it comes to his central defensive pairing, and will almost certainly turn towards John Stones and Manuel Akanji barring any late fitness problems.
The same theme carries on over to the left-back role, and with Nathan Ake sidelined through injury for this one and likely for the next few games, the ever-impressive Josko Gvardiol is expected to retain his place in the side.
Moving into midfield and having seen some success with the implementation of two deeper-lying operators in Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan, there is a chance Pep Guardiola looks towards this unit once again against Club Brugge.
Further forward and in more of a free role in-behind the team’s fluid front-three, we believe Phil Foden could be handed the license to be the creative star putting together passes between the lines and into the attacking trio.
Over on the right-hand side, and perhaps interchanging with Foden to offer much-needed legs in the middle of the park, we think it could be another outing for Guardiola’s ever-dependable Swiss-army knife; Bernardo Silva.
Through the middle, it will once again be Erling Haaland, of course.
Over on the left, and while there is a strong chance that Jack Grealish could be brought in for his calmness and controlled approach to attacking phases of play, we believe Savinho could be handed another opportunity to impress with his combination play alongside Haaland.
Starting XI: Ederson; Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gundogan, Foden; Bernardo, Haaland, Savinho.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Lewis, Simpson-Pusey, Wright, O’Reilly, McAtee, De Bruyne, Grealish, Bobb.
