Manchester City will make the trip to Selhurst Park stadium on Saturday to take on Crystal Palace. Given what we know of the team news, what changes will Pep Guardiola make to his team?
A win on Saturday means that City will then be just one win away from clinching the Premier League title. The Manchester side are 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals with only five games remaining.
Palace are having a decent season of their own as they are comfortably placed far away from the relegation zone; exceeding expectations.
During the week we saw Guardiola’s men return to a 4-3-3 and it is likely that they will stick to that formation here. Ederson will keep his place in goal but there will be a couple of changes made to the defence.
John Stones is still serving his two-game suspension, so Aymeric Laporte will come in for him and partner Ruben Dias in the centre of defence. Kyle Walker will drop to the bench and Joao Cancelo will be the right-back with Oleksandr Zinchenko starting at left-back.
There will be a further change in the midfield to rest a vitally important player, as Rodri will won’t be in action on Saturday. Fernandinho will be chosen to play as the anchor in midfield instead.
Along with the Brazilian, it will be the duo of Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. These two will give Palace a tough time with their combination of skill and ability to score.
Kevin De Bruyne started as the centre forward on Wednesday, but Manchester City would benefit from giving their talisman a rest.
Gabriel Jesus can take up that spot with Ferran Torres and Raheem Sterling forming the rest of the attack. City, on the high of a midweek win, will follow that up here by getting the three points in London.
Predicted Manchester City Starting XI Against Crystal Palace (4-3-3):
Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling