Manchester City have already wrapped up the Premier League title and now all their focus is on winning their maiden Champions League this weekend.
The Citizens have won the EPL as well as the League Cup so now they have the shot at winning a treble if they can over the Chelsea test. But it will be no walk in the park since the London outfit are one of the strongest and most cohesive defensive sides in Europe right now.
Tuchel has turned Chelsea into a defensive powerhouse in the past couple of months plus they have already beaten Manchester City twice. So the current EPL champions will have to make a lot of effort to try and breach the Blues defence on Saturday.
Man City have won their last 7 matches in the Champions League and given their current form, they will also go into this match as the favourites. But this is the first UCL final that Pep Guardiola will be managing in ages, so the Spaniard will have to make sure that he doesn’t overdo things. The one good news for Pep is that he has no injury concerns going into this match so he has the option of making changes and rotations whenever he wants.
Manchester City team news vs Chelsea:
John Stones and Ruben Dias have been the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League this season so the pair will reprise their role on Saturday with Kyle Walker playing as the right-back.
Joao Cancelo has done really well for Manchester City this season but when it comes to the Champions League matches, Pep Guardiola has preferred to use Zinchenko at left-back.
If the Man City boss wants to go with experience then Fernandinho will start as the defensive midfielder but we think Guardiola will stick with Rodri in that role.
Earlier this week Gundogan made it clear that he is not injured and has been doing full training sessions with the first-team squad so he is going to start in midfield alongside Bernardo Silva.
The Manchester City boss has this habit of playing with a false-nine system in the big matches and he’s expected to use this same tactic for the final as well. Kevin De Bruyne is likely to take up that role.
Phil Foden has now officially taken over Raheem Sterling as the first-choice right-winger and the youngster is a guaranteed starter on Saturday.
Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will be available from the bench for Manchester City while Riyad Mahrez operates from the left-hand side.
Manchester City’s predicted XI vs Chelsea:
Predicted Starting Line-up: Ederson; Stones, Ruben Dias, Zinchenko, Kyle Walker; Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Gundogan; Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne.
Stats via Whoscored.
