Manchester City will play their third match of the UEFA Champions League league phase tonight when they take on AEK Athens at the Etihad Stadium. Enzo Maresca’s side have won one game and lost one in their opening two Champions League matches. They beat FC Porto on match day one but were beaten by PSG on match day two. AEK Athens have also won one match and lost one after beating LASK in their opening match before being beaten 3-1 by Shakhtar Donetsk last week. Both teams will be desperate to pick up three points to gain a footing in their UEFA Champions League league phase.
Here is the latest City injury news and my predicted Manchester City starting eleven for tonight’s match.
Latest City injury and team news.
Antoine Semenyo will miss tonight’s match due to a knee injury. The powerful winger will be out of action for the next eight weeks, as revealed by Enzo Maresca yesterday. Losing Semenyo for a sustained period of time is a huge blow for Manchester City. But his misfortune does give an opportunity for others to play a more prominent role in Manchester City’s attack.
Erling Haaland, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly all failed to take part in Manchester City’s open training session yesterday. It would seem that all four players’ participation in tonight’s match is in doubt.
Selecting tonight’s starting eleven doesn’t seem like a straightforward task for Enzo Maresca. There is strength in depth in the City squad. Tonight may be the night where he rotates his squad. That does seem like a realistic option given that Manchester City play Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday. It does seem like tonight may be the night for Rico Lewis, Vitor Reis and Allan to start but it remains to be seen if that is a route that Enzo Maresca explores.
Predicted City starting eleven.
