Manchester City kicked off their preparations for the next season taking part in the Premier League Asia Trophy in China where they faced fellow English sides in West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Sky Blues have travelled to Japan to call curtains on their pre-season campaign following the 6-1 hammering of Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC. They will take the field against Yokohama FM at the Nissan Stadium today.
The Japanese side are expected to give tough competition to the Manchester-based outfit, seeing they won each of their last four matches across all competitions.
With almost a week to go for the Community Shield clash against Liverpool, it will be the last chance for the youngsters to impress manager Pep Guardiola for a place in the City squad for the upcoming campaign.
The Spanish manager will also assess his final XI for the opening month of the 2019/20 season with a couple of places in the squad up for grabs.
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The Etihad club faces no major injury other than Benjamin Mendy, however, some players will miss the game because of their commitment to their national teams during the summer.
The list includes the likes of Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Fernandinho and Ederson Moraes although Phil Foden has returned to the squad after his involvement with the England U-21’s.
PREDICTED MANCHESTER CITY LINEUP VS YOKOHAMA FM (4-3-3)
Defence
The Chilean goalkeeper, Bravo, is likely to take his place between the sticks in the absence of their number 1 choice in Ederson.
The centre-back duo of John Stones and Eric Garcia might feature in the backline with Aymeric Laporte and Taylor-Harwood Bellis featuring from the bench.
With Benjamin Mendy out for the opening games of the season because of injury, Zinchenko is likely to be the starter for the Sky Blues with Angelino acting as the backup with Fabian Delph already sold to Everton.
Danilo, who was pitted to leave City in the summer, looks likely to stay and will feature on the opposite flank to Zinchenko with Walker likely to come on from the bench.
Midfield
A midfield trio of Foden, Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan is likely to start the ultimate game of the pre-season.
David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and the likes of Tommy Doyle, Adrian Bernabe might feature in the second-half seeing the nature of the pre-season games.
Attack
Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane will form the attacking trident up front, the latter being heavily linked to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich over the summer.
The likes of Lukas Nmecha, Nabil Touaizi and others also might get their chance from the bench seeing the conditions in Asia have made it impossible for the players to complete full 90 minutes.
Here is how they might lineup:
