Man City team news as key players ruled out for Sunderland clash
The latest team news from Sunderland’s opponents in the Premier League this weekend, Manchester City.
Manchester City host high-flying Sunderland this weekend, hoping to avoid the same fate as other top sides who have dropped points at the hands of Regis Le Bris’ well-organised team.
Pep Guardiola’s outfit are the closest challenger to Premier League leaders Arsenal and will be hoping they can bridge some of the five-point gap this weekend, with the Gunners away to in-form Aston Villa.
However, the Black Cats have shown they will not stand by in awe of the league’s best sides and have put up commendable performances against Arsenal and Liverpool recently, taking a point against each, while they have also shown they can snatch all three points when they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
What is the latest Man City team news?
A continued blow for Guardiola has been the fitness struggles of one of Man City’s most important players in recent years, Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2024. After suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury early last year, the Spanish midfielder missed the rest of the season and returned to action a few months ago.
However, with match action lacking, ACL injuries can lead to other parts of the body struggling and that occurred when the midfielder went down with a hamstring injury in October. The Spanish Euro 2024 winner is still building his fitness up and is expected to miss Sunderland’s visit to the Etihad Stadium this weekend.
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Another midfielder who is going to be missing the contest is Mateo Kovacic. The Croatia international is expected to be out for a while after sustaining an ankle injury.
With both of these injuries coming in the centre of midfield, Guardiola took a cautious approach to the fitness of Nico Gonzalez, who has been starting at the base of midfield for Man City in recent weeks. Gonzalez was replaced early on in the 5-4 win over Fulham in midweek and is likely to retain his place in midfield for the weekend’s clash.
Man City have a blockbuster clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League next week, which could play into Guardiola’s team selection against the Black Cats. Last time out in Europe, the Spanish manager made wholesale changes, and his side lost 2-0 to German outfit Bayer Leverkusen. This could lead to more changes being made in the league this time instead, with England internationals John Stones and Rico Lewis, as well as Nathan Ake, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Rayan Ait-Nouri all pushing for minutes in defence.
The match takes place at the Etihad Stadium this Saturday 6 November at 15:00 GMT and will not be televised in the United Kingdom.
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