Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has no new injury concerns after the Wednesday night draw with AS Monaco, and ahead of the league fixture at Brentford FC. City’s injury/fitness absentees remain the same for this match:
Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Abdudokir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush. Mateo Kovacic has finally overcome his Achilles injury, and now returned to training, but he’s still a doubt here.
Manchester City at Brentford FC FYIs
Kick-off time: 7:30 PM GMT, 14th January 2025, Gtech Community Stadium
Google Result Probability: Man City 59% Brentford FC 20% Draw 21%
Premier League Standing, Form: Man City 7th, 10 pts, LLWDW Brentford FC 13th, 7 pts, WLDLW
Man City Team News
Kovacic should make his season debut in the first match after the international break.
Meanwhile Rodri could be on a minutes limit here, after playing an hour in the UCL midweek stalemate. Brentford surprisingly beat United last weekend, although can we still call any win over the Red Devils “an upset” at this point? Now the Bees are looking to do a double over the Manchester clubs, ahead of the international break.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at Brentford
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Rico Lewis, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly; Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Savinho; 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. 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