A relatively easy fixture (at least on paper) awaits Manchester City as they begin life without both Rodri and Erling Haaland. Leicester City, destined for the drop and with nothing left to play for, come to the Etihad on Wednesday night.
Haaland (ankle injury) could be done for the remainder, although the club has some hope he could still feature at some point in May. Rodri was ruled out for the season months ago, with severe knee ligament damage.
Leicester City at Manchester City FYIs
Kick-off time: 7:45PM GMT, Wednesday, April 2, Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Form Guide Premier League: Leicester LLLLL Manchester City WLWLD
Manchester City Preview Material Team News Starting Lineup
Premier League Position: Leicester City 17 pts, 19th Manchester City 5th, 48 pts
Result Probability: Leicester City win 7% Draw 13% Manchester City win 80%
While Haaland is the superstar who bangs in all the goals, gets most of the headlines and fronts all the marketing and promotion, he’s not the team’s most valuable player. Rodri is, and we’ve seen that both this season and last.
Man City are just so much better when Rodri is the lineup versus when he isn’t.
So let’s see what City can do here for the last couple months of the season, without their two best players in the first team.
Although with Haaland the timeline for return is seven weeks, so that means he might be in contention to feature on Championship Sunday,
And while they won’t be in the starting XI against Leicester this week, let’s take a look at who actually will. In the words of Aerosmith, “it’s time to stand up and be counted, come on and line up, line up.”
Manchester City Starting Lineup vs Leicester City
Ederson; Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol; Nico Gonzalez, Mateo Kovacic; Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish; Omar Marmoush
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.