Man City vs Club America: Where to watch, kick-off time and latest team news

Manchester City’s preparations for the 2022/23 campaign will step up another notch this week, when they face Club America in their first pre-season friendly of the summer.

The Premier League champions started a little later than most top-flight clubs when it comes to pre-season activities - in fact, Manchester United will have played three warm-up games before City’s clash with Club America.

But for Pep Guardiola’s men it’s vital to get some minutes into their legs before the season kicks off on 7 August against West Ham United.

City have just two pre-season friendlies and play Bayern Munich later this week, while Guardiola appears to be using the Community Shield against Liverpool on 30 July as a chance to improve the fitness of his squad.

But, ahead of City’s first game of 2022/23, we have all the need-to-know details…

What time is the game?

The match kicks off at 1:30am on Thursday morning in the UK, which is a local time of 6:30pm on Wednesday.

Where is the match taking place?

The first match of pre-season takes place in the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The ground is the home of NFL side the Houston Texans.

Where can I watch the match?

For viewers in the UK, the match can only be viewed on CITY+, a subscription service which showcases exclusive City content. A membership costs £2.99 a month.

What’s the latest team news?

City will be without John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden on Thursday, with the quartet not included in City’s 26-man squad which flew to the States.

Ruben Dias is also a major doubt after he missed Wednesday’s open training session at the NRG Stadium, while Oleksandr Zinchenko won’t play due to his imminent transfer to Arsenal.

However, summer signings Stefan Ortega Moreno, Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland are all expected to be involved.

The latter was looking particularly sharp in the club’s training footage from earlier in the week, and the clash with Club America will be the first time he dons a City jersey in a game.

Incidentally, the club will debut their new away kit in Houston, which was unveiled on Tuesday.

There are a few unfamiliar faces in the City squad which travelled to America, with youngsters Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis, Finley Burns and Ben Knight all potentially playing a role against Club America.