Manchester City and Chelsea have confirmed their starting lineups ahead of today’s pivotal Premier League fixture at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola’s side simply needs to pick up three points today after their nil-all draw against Sunderland two days ago. Arsenal’s 3-2 win over Bournemouth yesterday means that City sit seven points behind Arsenal with a game in hand. City will face a Chelsea side who saw Enzo Maresca relieved of his duties as manager late last week. Calum McFarlane will take charge of Chelsea as interim manager for today’s match.
Manchester City enter today’s match with a host of players unavailable and several more in doubt for today’s match. Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and John Stones will all miss today’s match due to injury. Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are unavailable as their participation at the African Cup of Nations continues.
Nico is in doubt for today’s match after sustaining a knock on the knee against Sunderland. It would be a surprise if he did start today’s match. It is highly unlikely that Savinho will play today after he came off injured against Sunderland. Nathan Ake played through the pain barrier against Sunderland but he did play out the full 90 minutes at the Stadium of Light so Ake should be available for today’s match.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has made three changes to the team that drew with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. In comes Josko Gvardiol, Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders Nathan Ake drops to the bench while Savinho and Nico are ruled out of today’s match due to injury.
Starting lineup: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Nico O’Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland.
Substitutes: Trafford, Ake, Doku, Khusanov, McAidoo, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni, R. Heskey.
Chelsea
Tonight’s team news! 🔵#CFC | #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/vekdkThoQa
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 4, 2026