Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is expected to make several changes to his starting XI ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend.
The Spaniard’s side put in a dominant display against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek with Gabriel Jesus scoring a hat-trick in the 6-0 win. The dominant victory, in which David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez also scored, has left City top of their Champions League group and almost certain of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Guardiola is still without Kevin De Bruyne for the derby as the Belgian midfielder continues his recovery from a knee injury.However, the only other absentees are Claudio Bravo, Philippe Sandler and Eliaquim Mangala who would not have featured anyway, if fit.
Vincent Kompany was rested in midweek and could come back into central defence, with the club captain always a consistent performer in the derby. Aymeric Laporte has been an ever-present in the league this season so John Stones is the defender most likely to make way, having skippered the side during the win over Shakhtar.
Benjamin Mendy will replace Oleksandar Zinchenko at left-back while Nicolas Otamendi is available again after injury but will not come straight back into the side.
The trio of Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho and David Silva are expected to be given the nod in central midfield although Guardiola will have been pleased to see Ilkay Gundogan return on Wednesday.
Raheem Sterling and Riyad Marrez have both hit a rich vein of form and will consider themselves unlucky if Guardiola opts to recall Leroy Sane.
Despite his hat-trick, Jesus will likely drop to the bench in place of Sergio Aguero with the Argentinian having struck eight goals in 12 matches against United in all competitions.
