Manchester City will be aiming to make it five wins from five matches in the Champions League this season when they welcome RB Leipzig to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Sky Blues have been imperious in the Champions League and top Group G with 12 points, already booking their spot in the knockout round of the competition, but they are yet to secure first position in the section with two games to spare.
Pep Guardiola and Co. will enter the match off the back of a 1-1 draw with Liverpool in the Premier League, and they have now dropped to second position in the table.
Manchester City Team News
Jack Grealish, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic all missed the Liverpool game at the weekend, and Pep Guardiola doesn’t expect to have any of those available for the visit of RB Leipzig. But John Stones and Sergio Gomez were both back on the bench on Saturday after recent injury issues and could enjoy some minutes against Leipzig.
Predicted Manchester City lineup vs RB Leipzig (3-2-4-1)
Goalkeeper
Pep Guardiola is likely to set up again in a 3-2-4-1 shape, with Ederson starting in goal as usual. The Brazilian returned back from injury against Liverpool last weekend and put in a fine display.
Defence
Josko Gvardiol could potentially come back into the side for this match, replacing Nathan Ake on the left-hand side of Man City’s three-man defence. The Croat will join Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker in central defence, with John Stones set for a role on the bench again.
The defensive trio of Gvardiol, Dias and Walker will look to put in an impressive shift and keep a clean sheet at the Etihad Stadium.
Midfield
Manuel Akanji was solid alongside Rodri in the double pivot against Liverpool, and the duo are expected to start again. They will look to take control of the game as early as possible and create opportunities for the forwards.
Acting as advanced No.10s, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva will look to get into pockets of spaces and carve open the Leipzig defence. The duo are creative and smart players, so the German side must do everything possible to keep them quiet.
Attack
Of course, Man City will look to their top scorer Erling Haaland for inspiration in attack on Tuesday night. But wingers Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku will also have to come up trumps in support of Haaland if City are to breach a well-drilled Leipzig defence.
The likes of John Stones, Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips could be involved at some point in the second half of the game.