Manchester City will lock horns with Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night looking to pick up maximum points on their travels. The Mancunian giants managed to earn a dominant 4-1 win over Arsenal in the EFL Cup earlier this week, which will keep their confidence high ahead of this weekend’s Premier League encounter versus the Magpies.
Pep Guardiola will set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and is expected to name Kevin De Bruyne in his first-team for this upcoming showdown at Manchester. However, Sergio Aguero will once again be named on the bench as Man City could opt to start with Gabriel Jesus up top.
4-2-3-1 Manchester City Predicted Lineup To Face Newcastle United
Defence
Ederson will feature in between the sticks for the reigning EFL Cup champions after securing a clean sheet away at Southampton last weekend. Ruben Dias will operate in central defence alongside John Stones as they try to neutralise Callum Wilson’s threat throughout the 90 minutes.
Kyle Walker will hope to put on another industrious display as the right-back while Benjamin Mendy fills in on the other side as the left-back. Guardiola will expect both of them to join in on the attack whenever they can to engineer some decent openings out from the wide areas.
Midfield
Ilkay Gundogan will anchor the Man City midfield along with Rodri as they focus on dominating possession and distributing the ball accurately in the opposition half. The dangerous trio of Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez will look to do some damage while operating just ahead of them as part of Guardiola’s attack.
Sterling scored the only goal of the game in the win over the Saints, so his confidence will be sky-high going into this weekend’s match against the Tyneside outfit. Both Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva will have to be content with a spot on the bench as they wait for their opportunity to impress as the second-half substitutes if required.
Attack
Gabriel Jesus will lead the charge for Man City up top. The Brazilian striker got himself a goal in midweek, so he will probably get the nod to start this game. His inclusion would mean that Sergio Aguero has to once again settle for a place on the bench.
