Man City are looking to bounce back on Saturday afternoon after they lost their last two games in a row.
Pep Guardiola will be disappointed with his side’s last two matches, as they are both games, he would have expected to win. Man City first lost to Newcastle 2-1 in the Premier League last weekend, and they then lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
City have looked exposed at the back in their past few matches, and so Guardiola will hope to get back to their solid ways in their next game, which comes against newly-promoted side Leeds United on Saturday afternoon. But how will Guardiola line up his City side, with the hope of getting back to winning ways?
Gvardiol starts ahead of O’Reilly
GK – Gianluigi Donnarumma – Donnarumma was rested in favour of James Trafford against Leverkusen.
LB – Josko Gvardiol – Gvardiol comes in at left-back ahead of Nico O’Reilly to add more defensive assurance.
CB – Ruben Dias – Dias is an ever-present for Guardiola in defence, and he keeps his place for the Leeds match.
CB – John Stones – Stones will be disappointed with his performance against Leverkusen. He will hope to recapture his form against Leeds.
RB – Matheus Nunes – Nunes has all but cemented his place at right-back and continues to start there moving forward.
Foden comes back into the Man City midfield
CM – Nico Gonzalez – Gonzalez will likely start in the holding midfield role as Rodri remains out with an injury at the moment.
CM – Bernardo Silva – The Man City captain likely won’t be dropped, even with Tijani Reijnders on the bench.
CAM – Phil Foden – Foden got a rest against Leverkusen during the week. He will likely come back in this weekend against Leeds.
Haaland returns to the starting XI
LW – Jeremy Doku – The Belgian winger has been the third-highest-rated player in the Premier League so far this season.
RW – Rayan Cherki – Guardiola opted to start Savinho against Leverkusen; You would expect Cherki to return for the Leeds match.
ST – Erling Haaland – Guardiola took the risk of resting Haaland in mid-week, and it didn’t pay off at all, with the 2-0 defeat.
Click here to see Man City’s full first team squad for the 2025/26 season.