4-1-4-1 Man City’s predicted line up to face Arsenal: Bernardo Silva and John Stones to return?

Manchester City take on Arsenal at the Emirates on Thursday in the Premier League and Guardiola will have the chance to get the better of his managerial counterpart within a span of 5 days.

City are currently 13 points clear at the top of the table and with a win against Arsenal the men in light blue will have the chance to go 16 points clear of their arch-rivals Manchester United who don’t play their next game until Monday night. Guardiola is expected to make a few changes to his starting line-up but the Spaniard will hopefully not get too complacent and name a strong enough side. We take a look at Man City’s predicted line up vs Arsenal.

MAN CITY TEAM NEWS:

Claudio Bravo started the Carabao Cup final on Sunday but regular No 1 Ederson is expected to return in front of goal on Thursday. Defender John Stones will also return to the defensive line partnering Otamendi in central defence. This means that Sunday’s goalscorer Vicent Kompany will once again go back to the substitutes bench.

Fabian Delph was suspended for Sunday’s clash and will also be unavailable on Thursday. On Sunday, Guardiola chose to play Danilo in the left-back position but we feel that 21-year-old Oleksandr Zinchenko will be handed a start against the Gunners on Thursday. Delph has served just one of his three-match ban and Guardiola will not try and risk Danilo by playing him twice within a span of 5 days.

Fernandinho is the other big absentee after Man City confirmed that the Brazilian will not recover in time to face Arsenal. This means that IIkay Gundogan will have to play the role that Fernandinho was entrusted with.

Raheem Sterling is also expected to recover from his injury but might not be fully fit to start the game.

David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne are almost guaranteed starters for the Thursday night clash and Bernardo Silva is expected to feature on the right wing. Sergio Aguero scored the first of the three goals in the Carabao Cup final and the Argentine is expected to retain his place in the starting line-up.

MAN CITY’S PREDICTED LINE UP VS ARSENAL:

Goalkeeper: Ederson.

Defence: Zinchenko, Stones, Otamendi, Walker.

Midfield: Gundogan, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne.

Attack: Leroy Sane, Aguero, Bernardo Silva.

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