Manchester City’s Premier League title hunt continues on Saturday when they visit Newcastle United in the day’s early kick-off.
After two games in the space of three days, drawing with title rivals Arsenal before beating Watford in the Carabao Cup, Pep Guardiola has some more squad rotation to do and, to complicate matters even further, is now without midfield star Rodri for the rest of the season.
City do boast incredible squad depth, however, and the former Spain international has plenty of options to turn to when his squad rocks up at St James’ Park.
Here’s the team Guardiola could deploy away at Newcastle on Saturday.
GK: Ederson – Got nowhere near Gabriel or Riccardo Calafiori’s strikes last weekend and picked up a booking for incessant complaining. Needs a stronger showing in the cauldron of St James’ Park.
CB: Manuel Akanji – Kyle Walker has had a few runouts of late and may need a rest this weekend. While not boasting the right-back’s express pace, Akanji has plenty of defensive nous and should relish any potential one-v-ones with Newcastle flier Anthony Gordon.
CB: Ruben Dias – One of many players given a rest on Tuesday, Dias should return to City’s starting lineup as their primary leader in defence.
CB: Josko Gvardiol – The Croatian should start in his hybrid defensive role, switching between wide and central areas where required.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – Gvardiol’s compatriot wasn’t well suited to attempting to break down Arsenal‘s deep defence last week but his ball-winning abilities and marauding dribbling should be in full force on Tyneside.
CM: John Stones – The England international could be set for a huge season after Rodri’s injury blow. Stones grabbed the equaliser against the Gunners but it’s his quality in possession that could be vital against Newcastle.
RW: Savinho – The Brazilian speedster rattled the woodwork in midweek after appearing as a second-half substitute but should get a starting brief on Saturday.
AM: Ilkay Gundogan – Gundogan is yet to score since returning to City from Barcelona and, given the problems Guardiola has been presented with in recent weeks, now would be a good time for the 33-year-old to rediscover his lethal streak in the final third.
AM: Phil Foden – The 24-year-old is looking to build on a stellar individual 2023/24 campaign but only got his first start of this season on Tuesday. He rattled off six shots against Watford but only hit the target once.
LW: Jeremy Doku – The Belgian got his first goal of the campaign on Tuesday, starting on the right wing. He should revert over to left at the weekend, with Jack Grealish dropping out of the starting XI.
ST: Erling Haaland – It really was an all-action display from the Norwegian last week. After scoring early on, he went around bashing anyone who got close to him and threw the ball at Gabriel in celebration of Stones’ dramatic leveller. He’s just gone past 100 goals for City but has only struck once in four previous matches against Newcastle.
