Tame midweek opposition presented Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca with the perfect opportunity to offer key players respite, and the Italian will hope his roster is fresh in time for Saturday’s tricky trip to Aston Villa.
City extended their winning start to the Premier League season to seven games with a 3–2 victory over Ipswich Town last weekend. Chelsea’s record of nine successive wins to kick off their title defense in 2005–06 is certainly under threat, and Maresca’s side will draw level with 2019–20 Liverpool should they prevail in the West Midlands.
The Cityzens have had their issues with Unai Emery’s side over the years and have lost on their previous three visits to Villa’s home. So, the visitors are aiming to overcome a developing hoodoo at Saturday lunchtime.
Here’s how City could line up for their trip to a not-so-happy hunting ground.
Man City Predicted Lineup vs. Aston Villa
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma—Clean sheets have been relatively hard to come by, and an improving Aston Villa team whose new arrivals are starting to purr are bound to test the under-fire Italian.
RB: Matheus Nunes—Rico Lewis impressed in the week, but he doesn’t appear to be a viable usurper at right back. Nunes should thus come back into the team, and likely deal with Villa’s forward forays from full back.
CB: Rúben Dias—The skipper was at least afforded some midweek respite, as Maresca took him off with 10 minutes to play.
CB: Marc Guéhi—It’s hasn’t exactly been the cleanest couple of weeks for Guéhi, who won’t want to develop an ‘error-prone’ tag.
LB: Joško Gvardiol—Nico O’Reilly remains an injury doubt, so Gvardiol looks set to get the nod at left back. His positioning in possession will be key to stabilizing City’s rest defense and preventing Villa from running amok on the counterattack.
CM: Ayyoub Bouaddi—The young Moroccan has been outstanding in recent outings, and has likely played his way into Maresca’s starting lineup on Saturday.
Pick Your Man City XI!
CM: Elliot Anderson—It’d be risky for Maresca to go to Villa Park, given how proficient the hosts are at progressing the ball through the middle, with an Anderson x Enzo Fernández pivot. A combination of the former and Bouaddi makes more sense, providing the defense with sterner protection.
RW: Phil Foden—Strike while the iron’s hot. Foden hasn’t merely scored in back-to-back games since returning from suspension, he completed his fourth Man City hat trick in their midweek victory.
AM: Rayan Cherki—Cherki has worked in tandem with Foden before, and the pair will dovetail between the lines at Villa Park. The Frenchman provided another magical sequence in the week, scoring City’s third goal with a sumptuous reception and finish.
LW: Jérémy Doku—The X-factor wide man has to be carefully managed after returning from injury. There were no midweek minutes, so Doku should be fit and firing here.
ST: Erling Haaland—After hobbling off the field against Ipswich last week, Haaland was an unused substitute for the battering of AEK Athens. Maresca has since confirmed that the Norwegian is good to go for Saturday’s match, allowing FPL managers to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Add us as a preferred source on Google