Manchester City are looking to complete a perfect start to the regular season at home to Sunderland this afternoon
Manchester City are looking to complete a perfect start to the Premier League season
Manchester City are looking to complete a perfect start to the Premier League season(Image: Getty Images/Pick the Team)
View 2 Images
Enzo Maresca could not have asked for a better start to the season. After losing 3-0 to Arsenal in the Community Shield, Manchester City have not put a foot wrong. They have won six games in a row and have not conceded since the 4-1 win at Crystal Palace, at the end of August.
On Thursday night, Maresca was able to give a number of his first-team stars a rest. Despite a five-goal thrashing of Norwich in the Carabao Cup, the City boss is likely to make a large number of changes to that team. Gianluigi Donnarumma will return in goal, replacing Geronimo Rulli.
Ahead of him, only Nico O'Reilly is likely to survive. Josko Gvardiol will feel hard done by, but O'Reilly is the more natural left-back. Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias and Marc Guehi should be confident of starting alongside the academy graduate in the back four.
Maresca experimented with Ayyoub Bouaddi on the left of a back three at times against Norwich. It's unlikely we will see that formation here, but he could retain his place alongside Elliot Anderson. Enzo Fernandez, who was impressive at Old Trafford last week, could move into attacking midfield with Phil Foden suspended.
When Foden was sent off, Iliman Ndiaye was chucked in at the deep end to turn the game in City's favour. He managed to do just that and deserves to be rewarded with a start against Sunderland.
Antoine Semenyo struggled against Manchester United and Rayan Cherki did little wrong at Old Trafford. However, it was necessary to change him in favour of Ndiaye because of how the game developed. With that in mind, Cherki should start on the right but we can expect fluidity from the attacking midfielders.
Leading the line will be Erling Haaland. But it will be interesting to see if Floyd Samba makes the bench after his brace in the cup.
Manchester City predicted XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, O'Reilly; Anderson, Bouaddi; Cherki, Fernandez, Ndiaye; Haaland