Manchester City will welcome Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they look to secure all three points at home in the Premier League. The Mancunian outfit managed to secure a dominant 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the opening weekend of this campaign, which should keep them in good spirits ahead of this game.
Pep Guardiola will opt for the 4-2-3-1 formation and is expected to make some tweaks to his first XI for this clash. Omar Marmoush, Manuel Akanji and Rayan Cherki could all play from the start of this game.
Defence
James Trafford will continue to operate in between the sticks for Man City after keeping a clean sheet in his last outing. Ruben Dias will resume his partnership with Manuel Akanji at the centre of Guardiola’s defence as they look to keep things solid on the defensive end of the field.
Matheus Nunes will be a nailed-on starter at right-back while Rayan Ait-Nouri fills in on the other side as the left-back. Both of them will get the license to go forward and express themselves in the Tottenham half.
Nathan Ake and John Stones will offer cover for the defensive positions on the bench.
Midfield
Guardiola could opt for a midfield three of Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Tijjani Reijnders. The talented trio would look to dominate the game at the centre of the park and engineer some decent chances in the final third.
Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki will play as Man City’s attacking midfielders. Their main focus would be to cause a lot of headaches for the Tottenham defenders this Saturday afternoon.
Nico Gonzalez will have to settle for a spot on the bench as he waits for his chance to shine in the second half, if needed.
Attack
Erling Haaland will lead the line for Man City in the final third. The Norway international managed to score a brace in his last outing and would be full of confidence going into this clash against Spurs.
Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb will have to be content with a place on the bench and might come on to make an impact in the latter stages of the game if required.