Manchester City get a breather from chasing the Premier League title in mid-week as they get ready to take on Swansea City in the FA Cup. Given what we know of the team news for this one, will there be a lot of squad rotation from Pep Guardiola for this clash?
City continued their impressive winning streak in the league as they dismantled defending champions Liverpool four goals to one. They will be full of confidence as they go into this fifth-round clash against the team from Wales.
This is a competition that the team from Manchester have won during the 2018/19 season. Though they have one of the easier games in this round, they must ensure that they don’t get complacent.
Guardiola will be looking to make some changes for this game so that he can keep his players fresh for the league. That will see Zack Steffen start in goal as City look to line-up in their 4-3-3 formation.
In the defence, two players who will keep their place from Sunday will be Joao Cancelo and Ruben Dias. Partnering the Portuguese in the centre of defence will be Frenchman Aymeric Laporte. And replacing Oleksandr Zinchenko will be another Frenchman, Benjamin Mendy, who will be the left back.
Phil Foden, who was instrumental in their win against Liverpool, will drop to midfield for this match. Along with him, it will be Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva completing the midfield trio.
The experience that the Brazilian brings to the team will be crucial in controlling the tempo of the game. As for Silva and Foden, they will create problems for Swansea, given the skill they have on the ball.
Up front, we will see a couple of changes for Manchester City as Ferran Torres and Gabriel Jesus will start on Wednesday. One player who will keep his place in the team is Raheem Sterling; fresh from scoring at Anfield.
These three have enough pace and skill among them to get past the Swansea defence. All that City would have to do is get them in those dangerous areas in the final third and goals will soon appear.
Given the form that they are in, all signs point to a win for the team from Manchester.
Predicted Manchester City Starting XI Against Swansea City (4-3-3):
Zack Steffen, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling