Rodri, Foden to start; Savinho benched: Man City predicted XI vs Monaco in Champions League clash
Man City are preparing to face Monaco on Wednesday in the Champions League away from home.
Pep Guardiola will be delighted with his Manchester City side after they beat Burnley 5-1 over the weekend. Goals came from Erling Haaland, Matheus Nunes, and Burnley’s Maxime Esteve, who scored two own goals.
It leaves City seventh in the Premier League, and just five points away from Liverpool who suffered their first defeat of the season over the weekend. However, Man City will now turn their attention away from the Premier League, as they are making the trip to Monaco to play their second Champions League game.
In their opener, City managed to beat Napoli 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium. They now face a Monaco side who suffered a 4-1 defeat in their first Champions League game against Belgian side Club Brugge. But how will Guardiola decide to line up against the French side?
Nunes starts in defence after scoring against Burnley
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma
DEF - Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis
In terms of the back, Man City start with Donnarumma in goal, who will be very familiar with Monaco, as he faced them several times during his time at Paris Saint-Germain. He hopes to make it consecutive Champions League clean sheets.
Nunes starts at right-back after scoring against Burnley, with Rico Lewis on the left, replacing Nico O’Reilly, who started at the back over the weekend in the Premier League.
The centre-back pairing of Gvardiol and Dias remains the same, as Abdukodir Khusanov is a doubt for the game with an ankle injury.
Rodri returns in the Man City midfield
MID: Rodri, Tijani Reijnders, Phil Foden
In the midfield, Rodri starts in the holding role after he missed the Burnley game due to a knock to his knee. The Spanish international is expected to be available to play against Monaco, and so if he’s available, he should be starting.
Reijnders has been excellent in midfield since joining from AC Milan, he starts again this week, but if Pep wanted to rest him, he could bring Bernardo Silva into the team.
Furthermore, Phil Foden started in a more central role against Burnley rather than on the wing, and it worked for the England international. Based on his recent performances, it would be a mistake to leave Foden out of the starting XI.
Haaland starts after scoring two against Burnley
ATT: Jeremy Doku, Oscar Bobb, Erling Haaland
In attack, Pep makes one change from the Burley game, so Oscar Bobb comes into the team after he was replaced by Savinho for the Burnley match. Bobb has been impressive recently, so you would expect him to feature against Monaco.
Doku starts on the left as he has been one of Man City’s best players so far this season, in terms of creating chances, and making things happen up front. His service to Haaland has been excellent.
Speaking of Haaland, he scored twice against Burnley, taking his tally in all competitions for the season up to nine goals. He is certainly back to his best for City, and will have an impact against Monaco.