BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 21: Erling Haaland of Manchester City with Jack Grealish afte the Premier League match between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City FC at Villa Park on December 21, 2024 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Jack Grealish
Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish are among eight players to miss Manchester City's game with Everton.
Grealish started at Villa Park and Walker came on as a second-half substitute for John Stones, who came off at the break with a recurrence of the foot injury that has plagued him this year. Grealish was described as not fully fit for the Boxing Day match while Walker is missing through illness.
It means that City are more depleted than ever before this season, with Ederson, Matheus Nunes, Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, and Rodri also sidelined for varying lengths of time. Five of the nine substitutes Pep Guardiola picked to face Everton were academy players, with goalkeeper Spike Brits earning his first involvement with the first team squad having been involved in the warm-up at Villa.
Kevin De Bruyne is only named on the bench for the second successive game, alongside Ilkay Gundogan, James McAtee and the flurry of youngsters. Bernardo Silva starts in midfield with Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic also in there looking to provide the spark to break down what is expected to be a stubborn Everton defence.
Nathan Ake returns to partner Manu Akanji in the centre of defence, with Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol either side of them and Stefan Ortega in goal. Jeremy Doku and Savinho both start on the wing, looking to form a potent attack with Erling Haaland as City aim to put their dreadful run of results behind them.