Tuesday night will see Manchester City’s pre-match media conference with both manager Pep Guardiola and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan. The session, ahead of City’s trip to Dinamo Zagreb, will complete the UEFA Champions League group stage competition.

Perhaps this session, held at Stadion Maksimir at 7.30pm local, will give us an insight into what kind of team Guardiola will select for this match. Given how City have already won group C and qualified for the round of 16, Pep won’t have to field his strongest side possible. With that mind, we made a first team projection that incorporates a few of the reserves.

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Manchester City heads to Dinamo Zagreb for their final UEFA Champions League group stage match on Tuesday 10 December at Stadion Maksimir. Already through to the knockout round, as winners of Group C, this will be a low stress affair for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Out of the running now for defending their back-to-back Premier league titles, City can now turn their focus towards trying to win Europe’s greatest tournament this season. They can worry about that later, as this match won’t have too much consequence on that. In looking to the team news for this one, their opponents have just one injury issue, Sandro Kulenovic, who is out until the new year with a broken foot.

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Tuesday night sees a Premier League fixture that is certainly a lopsided series, to say the least. Manchester City heads to the Turf Moor to take on a Burnley FC side that they have dominated lately. Across all competitions, City have won seven of the last eight, and suffered defeat just once in the last 22 against the Clarets.

This is exactly what the reigning back to back Premier League champions need right now, after having taken just four points from the last three matches. That doesn’t sound awful at first, but remember, this is City, a club with financial resources (and thus high expectations) unlike any in the entire world.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been speaking lately as if he knows the chances of a Premier League title defense are slipping away.  And that was even before the draw at Newcastle United on Saturday, which saw his side further behind runaway league leaders Liverpool in the standings.

Man City is running out of chances, and their mid-week fixture at Burnley FC is one where they just cannot drop points. The host Clarets could see Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Matej Vydra back in the lineup, but only if they pass late fitness before kickoff.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has essentially conceded the Premier League title race without really conceding it. The City boss maintains his team will keep fighting on until the end, but knows it’s not the top priority anymore.

Up next is a trip to St. James Park, where the hosts are sometimes surprisingly tough against the big six. City come into this match third in the table with 28 points, while Newcastle are 14th with just 15 points. Let’s take a look at the team news for this one, starting with Newcastle.

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Just when Pep Guardiola thought that his roster injury problems were easing off a bit, especially with Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte beginning their rehabilitation/returning to the side, Manchester City has been struck by the injury but again.

Now Sergio Aguero is set to miss the Manchester Derby on December 7, and all the competition in between now and then. Aguero hobbled his way out of City’s win over Chelsea this past weekend due to a thigh injury. Guardiola confirmed to the press that the striker will not be available for the game against Manchester United at the Etihad stadium on December 7, leaving them with Gabriel Jesus as the only fit striker on the squad for this major clash. [Read more…]

There’s a burgeoning rivalry between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk unfolding right before our eyes. This is the third straight season we’ve seen them paired up in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

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