…and Christmas Day illness news was a bit of a blow to Pep’s plans, I’m sure.
 |
| Etihad Stadium |
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3:
______________________________________________
____________________Sterling___________________
Torres___________________________________Mahrez
____________De Bruyne_____Gundogan____________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Mendy__________________________________Cancelo
_____________Stones_________Dias_______________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Steffen, Zinchenko, Ake, Laporte, Fernandinho, Foden, Silva, Delap, Aguero.
Ederson in net.
With recent news of Kyle’s illness coming through on Christmas Day, Benjamin is likely to come in on the left side of the defence while Joao reverts to his more-natural position of right-wing back. John & Ruben almost pick themselves in the middle of the defence at the moment.
Surely we’re not going to go with more than one defensive midfielder for this game and if that’s the case, Rodders is the likely candidate to get that job this evening.
Having said that, I think Ilkay gets a starting place too but, I would suggest, in a more advanced role alongside Kevin. Ferran & Riyad get the ‘wing jobs’.
With news also that Gabriel will be missing due to illness, Raheem is likely to be the central, focus point up front; albeit perhaps in a deeper / floating capacity as his teammates all endeavour to get the much-needed goals too.
Steffen is the reserve keeper; Oleksandr, Nathan & Aymeric are the defensive replacement options from ‘the 9’. Fernandinho, Phil, Bernardo, Liam & Sergio provide the midfield / wing / attacking choices from the side. I could be wrong about Liam Delap getting a place on the side, which could go to either Adrian, Cole or Tommy. My logic is, however, that surely the Premier League 2 player of the month for November ‘gets the nod’ from our manager as our already-thin striking department practically disintegrates in front of our eyes…
Notable absences:
- Eric Garcia – Injured for another week, going off the initial assessment.
- Kyle Walker – Isolating after contracting Covid-19. Not only will he miss this game but also our league fixtures against Everton & Chelsea.
- Gabriel Jesus – For Gabriel, read Kyle…and I hope that both players - plus two other staff members who tested positive also - have either no, or just mild, symptoms and that they all have no long-lasting health issues.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? Despite the late injury news, which can definitely be classified as a, ‘significant blow’ particularly with such a tightly-packed fixture list (I hope Cancelo can recover well in-between games), it’s a City win for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Win
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: Having rained fairly consistantly from around 4:00pm, the rain turns much heavier around kick off time (8:00pm GMT). We do have an excellent pitch, of course, but the forecasted, night-time deluge could make for a slippy pitch, which may affect the play in some ways – we might see some mistimed tackles. 8C isn’t going to feel at all like that in the hard rain and to make things a little worse, the wind is gonna blow-in strong from the southwest. Lovely…
I hope everyone had a great day yesterday and that you all continue to enjoy the festive / holiday period in whatever way you prefer.
Stay safe and enjoy the festive footy period too!
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