When Manchester City head to Sporting Lisbon tomorrow night, they’ll do so with a squad that is really banged up at the back. With a significant amount of defenders out injured, it is pretty clear cut who manager Pep Guardiola will select in his first team for this match. Because he just doesn’t have a lot of options, to be honest.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 of 8
Manchester City at Sporting Lisbon
Kickoff: Tue. Nov. 5, 8pm, Estadio Jose Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon, Portugal
Manchester City Preview Content: Starting XI Prediction Team News
UCL Standing, Form: Manchester City 3rd, 7 pts, +9 GD, DWW Sporting Lisbon 8th, 7 pts, +4 GD, WDW
Up front, in the final third however, you still have plenty of options to chose from, even though you’ve got some injuries in that position group too.
Guardiola can field a pretty strong cadre of attackers tomorrow night, as he looks to keep his side near the top of the standings in continental competition.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at Sporting Lisbon (Champions League)
Ederson; Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Josko Gvardiol; Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan; Matheus Nunes, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.