Manchester City will hope to get their domestic title charge back on track when they travel to the King Power to face the struggling Champions- Leicester City. It hasn’t been the best of title defence for them till now and the Foxes have found the going tough. They seem to miss the presence of N’Golo Kante in midfield and their reluctance to replace the powerhouse midfielder has cost them heavily. Jamie Vardy has been horribly off form and Riyad Mahrez has failed to reach anywhere near the dizzying heights of last season.
City, meanwhile have struggled in recent weeks in maintaining their consistency. They are particularly having a poor home run with 3 draws and a chastening loss against Chelsea last weekend adding to their woes. They followed the worrying trend with another draw against Celtic in the final group game of the UEFA Champions League. City have especially faced issues with their defence and after an initial period when the likes of Kolarov and Clichy looked excellent, they have failed to continue that momentum. With only 3 clean sheets in all competitions, they have to shore up their defensive lines and need to do it pretty fast with Arsenal and Liverpool lying in wait.
PREDICTED MANCHESTER CITY LINE-UP VS LEICESTER CITY (4-1-4-1)
DEFENCE
Claudio Bravo will come into the starting eleven and has to step his level considerably. By now he should have settled but going by his displays, that moment seems to be quite far off. Bacary Sagna might be deployed at right-back with Zabaleta playing the full 90 minutes against Celtic. John Stones is likely to come in at centre-back and will be partnered by Aleks Kolarov, with Otamendi suspended for the clash. Gael Clichy is likely to be at left-back and will need to be better against Riyad Mahrez than what he was while facing Roberts.
MIDFIELD
With Fernandinho starting his 3-match suspension, there will be a big hole for Pep Guardiola to fill. Fernando offers an obvious replacement and is likely to sit in front of the defence. He will try his best to replicate his Brazilian teammate’s stellar impact on the team. David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan is likely to station themselves in the advanced midfield regions and should be confident of unlocking a porous Leicester backline.
ATTACK
Kevin De Bruyne will most likely be on the left-wing and will look to cap off a big week with a goal. Raheem Sterling is expected to recover after a couple of weeks out and will be on the right wing. Kelechi Iheanacho will be leading the line in Aguero’s absence.
