Man City play Brentford on Wednesday and our MEN writers have had their say on how the Blues should start.
Manchester City welcome Brentford to the Etihad in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
The Blues beat Fulham 4-1 at the weekend in the FA Cup and will be hoping to maintain their momentum here.
Pep Guardiola’s side are currently nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table, with familiar rivals Liverpool chasing City behind. Chelsea are next in third, but City are well clear with just 15 games to play to be crowned champions once again.
Brentford were tricky opposition in the reverse fixture against City in London, losing 1-0 after Phil Foden scored, however, they head into his match on the back of five consecutive defeats and they conceded four goals to struggling Everton on Saturday.
Here’s how our MEN writers think City should line up.
Back to the main business of the Premier League after a fortnight’s break and FA Cup interlude, and City need to drive home their advantage at the top with wins over Brentford and Norwich in the next four days.
They kept some of their powder dry against Fulham but have plenty of well-rested big names to rumble back into action for this one – Ederson Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling were all on the subs’ bench on Saturday.
They should all start. giving Pep Guardiola fresh options for Saturday, and it would be great to see Liam Delap and James McAtee get some more minutes off the bench, even if the result is not settled by the second half.
Those players who can run all day should be asked to do so, meaning Joao Cancelo, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne being asked to go again in what should be a line-up as strong as it gets.
Simon Bajkowski
John Stones capped his start with a goal against Fulham but it is hard not to think that Guardiola should revert to Laporte and Dias for this game. Nathan Ake is a shout at left-back given how strong Brentford were in the air in the last game against them, although it is just so hard to leave out Cancelo or Walker right now because of everything they bring to the team.
Similarly, the midfield three picks itself despite Ilkay Gundogan enjoying a rare start at the weekend. Gundogan may seem more suited to Brentford than Kevin De Bruyne but then it was one moment of magic from the Belgian that separated the teams in the previous meeting.
That it was Phil Foden who got on the end of that goal gives him the edge over Jack Grealish for the final place in the forward lineup. Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez are the two most in-form attackers and deserve to play.
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