Manchester City will be looking to carry on their electrifying form when they take on Stoke City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Citizens went into the international break on the back of what was arguably their best performance of the season against champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, culminating in a comprehensive 1-0 victory. The charismatic Kevin De Bruyne hit a fantastic strike past fellow Belgian Thibaut Courtois to silence the home crowd and defeat his old team.
Stoke City will provide a stern test for City as they narrowly beat a low-scoring Southampton side 2-1 at the Bet365 Stadium, with Peter Crouch scoring a late winner. The Potters have injury problems in defence and will be without captain Ryan Shawcross and fellow centre-back Bruno Martins-Indi. This will bring more confidence to the home side going forward tomorrow.
With Manchester United playing against Liverpool at lunchtime, City will need to ensure they get the three points and prepare for any potential slip-ups from their rivals. They cannot be complacent, otherwise the curse of past seasons may come back to haunt the Citizens. Victory is paramount for the title race.
Here is how we think Pep Guardiola will line up his team for the match.
GK - Ederson
Ederson will retain his position in goal.
RB - Kyle Walker
Walker will continue at right-back and will be looking to stretch Stoke left-back Erik Pieters down the right.
CB - John Stones
Stones performed well against Chelsea and will definitely start tomorrow.
CB - Nicolas Otamendi
Otamendi will start alongside Stones.
LB - Danilo
With Delph only just coming back from injury, Danilo looks set to start at left-back.
CM - Kevin De Bruyne
After his recent performances against Shakhtar and Chelsea, Kevin will be touted to produce more opportunities for City’s electrifying attack.
Very unlucky not to get the Premier League Player of the Month award for September.
CM - Fernandinho
Ferna put in another solid display in the Chelsea game and he will be called into action once more to deal with Stoke’s physicality.
CAM - David Silva
Silva has had a fantastic start to the season and will continue his stay in the position behind the strikers.
LW - Leroy Sane
Leroy was brilliant for Germany in the final qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup. He should continue his run of games on the left, with his immense pace and power key to City’s attack.
RW/ST - Gabriel Jesus
After impressing once again for Brazil against Chile in the World Cup qualifiers, Jesus is in red-hot form and will look to continue that streak against the Potters.
ST - Sergio Aguero
With the Argentinian making a quick recovery after breaking a rib whilst in a car accident in Amsterdam, Guardiola could decide to bring him back into the fold straight away. If not, Raheem Sterling can fill in on the right.
Another player who arguably should have won the Premier League Player of the Month award.