Manchester City will entertain Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening hoping to win and overtake Manchester United and Leicester City at the top of the Premier League table. The Mancunian giants managed to earn a dominant 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace last weekend and are currently enjoying an excellent run of form as they are unbeaten in their last 15 matches across all competitions.
Pep Guardiola will once again set his team up in a 4-3-3 formation and is expected to make a few changes to his starting XI for this league clash in midweek. Joao Cancelo, Rodri, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden could all be named in the first-team as the Man City manager looks to freshen his team up heading into this exciting encounter versus the Villans.
4-3-3 Manchester City Predicted Lineup To Face Aston Villa
Defence
Ederson will operate in between the sticks for the Mancunian outfit after he secured an easy clean sheet versus the Eagles last weekend. John Stones will resume his defensive partnership with Ruben Dias at the centre of the Man City backline as they try to keep Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in check throughout the 90 minutes.
Kyle Walker will be a nailed-on starter at right-back while Joao Cancelo gets another chance to shine on the other side as the left-back. Both of them will be given the freedom to venture forward and create some decent chances from the wide areas.
Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko will be available for selection on the bench, but one of them could come on to feature in the second half if required.
Midfield
Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne will make up Guardiola’s midfield. The world-class trio will focus on enjoying more of the ball at the centre of the park so that they have enough chances to carve open the Villan defence during the game.
Gundogan got his name on the scoresheet last weekend, so he will fancy his chances of producing another goal-scoring display in midweek. Fernandinho got a start against Crystal Palace which could mean that he would drop to the bench for this upcoming league contest at the Etihad.
Attack
Phil Foden could get a start on the left flank as he was rested on Sunday. Riyad Mahrez is also expected to return and operate as a right-sided winger while Raheem Sterling gets the nod to lead the charge for Man City down the middle. The English speedster is likely to be deployed as a makeshift centre-forward as Guardiola might be inclined to give Gabriel Jesus some rest on the bench.
