Manchester City travel to face Watford in the Premier League on Saturday as they aim to make it seven wins in a row heading into a busy month of December. Pep Guardiola’s team are just one point behind league leaders Chelsea as they look to keep up the pressure when the games come thick and fast. City face a tricky Watford test as they look dangerous under new manager Claudio Ranieri even though they have only won 2 league games under him till now. Guardiola has a couple of selection issue to deal with as City play their 3rd game of the week amid injuries kicking in, but nothing less than 3 points will satisfy him this weekend.
Defence
The Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson is a confirmed starter between the sticks and will be looking for his 8th cleansheet of the league this season.
Key players like John Stones and Kyle Walker are expected to miss the clash due to possible knocks which kept them out of the Villa game too. Pep Guardiola will be boosted by the availability of Aymeric Laporte who was suspended for the midweek game. Ruben Dias and Laporte are believed to start at the heart of the defence.
Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko will be taking up the fullback positions as City continue to assess Walker’s situation ahead of the game on Saturday.
Midfield
Ilkay Gundogan is expected to return to the starting XI replacing Fernandinho. Kevin De Bruyne is believed to have still not trained with the squad and looks like he will miss another fixture due to Covid-19. The trio of Rodri, Gundogan and Bernardo Silva looks set to start as Guardiola will be hoping for them to control the midfield and dominate the game in possession.
Attack
Jack Grealish and Phil Foden returned to the squad from injuries in the midweek game vs Villa. Grealish got about 5 minutes from the bench and Foden was an unused sub as City edged out a narrow win at Villa Park. Ferran Torres is nowhere near his full fitness as he is a confirmed miss for the City boss.
Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez are expected to again start from the opposite wings as Pep might not risk Grealish as a starter so early after coming back from injury. Phil Foden is also expected to start from the bench and only come on in the later stages of the game to make any impact.
Gabriel Jesus will lead the line as he will look to drop deep to drag defenders out of position to create more space for the wingers and the fullbacks.
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