Leeds vs Manchester City: Confirmed line-ups as Haaland ruled out for Premier League clash

Manchester City travel to Leeds United hoping to maintain the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal in the title race.

City trail the Gunners by five points albeit having played one game fewer, but that lead could be cut to just two points with a victory for Pep Guardiola’s side at Elland Road.

Leeds, meanwhile, will be looking to make further strides to consolidate their place in the top flight next season.

Daniel Farke’s men are currently six points above the relegation zone in 15th, however, the hosts are unbeaten in their last four matches in all competitions, and can boast draws against Chelsea and Aston Villa in that run.

Leeds United team news

Farke names an unchanged starting line-up to the side that began the draw against Aston Villa last weekend.

Karl Darlow starts in goal, behind a defence of James Justin, Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, with Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson providing the support on the flanks.

Captain Ethan Ampadu is partnered by Bulgarian international Ilia Gruev, Anton Stach and Brenden Aaronson in midfield with Dominic Calvert-Lewin leading the line.

Noah Okafor is out with a hamstring injury.

Leeds XI: Darlow, Bogle, Gudmundsson, Ampadu, Struijk, Rodon, Calvert-Lewin, Aaronson, Stach, Justin, Gruev

Subs: James, Longstaff, Piroe, Nmecha, Bijol, Tanaka, Bornauw, Gnonto

Manchester City team news

The big news from the Manchester City camp is the absence of striker Erling Haaland, who is ruled out with injury.

Rayan Cherki replaces the Norwegian, starting alongside Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo in attack.

Jeremy Doku has been back in training for City but will not feature from the start, while Josko Gvardiol (shin) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle) remain sidelined.

Man City XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Bernardo, O’Reilly, Semenyo, Cherki, Marmoush

Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Doku, Nico, Savinho, Khusanov, Foden

Where to watch Leeds United v Manchester City: TV and online stream

Leeds United v Manchester City kicks off at 5:30pm on Saturday.

It will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. The game will also be available to stream via Sky Go.

Stats for Leeds United v Manchester City

• Leeds have lost each of their last five Premier League games against City, having lost just four of their first 16 against them in the competition (W7 D5).
• City have won their last two away league games against Leeds – only once have they won three consecutively, doing so in their first three visits to Elland Road between 1924 and 1928.
• Since the start of December, Leeds have drawn more games than any other Premier League side (8), with the Whites going 1-0 ahead in three of their last four draws, which all ended 1-1.
• Since the 2017-18 season, City have only conceded two-plus goals in three of their 52 Premier League games against newly promoted teams – two were against Leeds (lost 2-1 in April 2021, won 3-2 in November 2025) and the other was against Farke’s Norwich City in September 2019 (lost 3-2).
• City have only lost one of their last 14 Premier League games when playing the day before Arsenal (W10 D3), a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle in November earlier this season.
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Leeds have only kept a clean sheet in seven of their 43 Premier League matches when they’ve scored first – their only two clean sheets of that type this season saw them go 1-0 up in the 84th (vs Everton) and 90th (vs Fulham) minutes; when going 1-0 up in the first half, Leeds have conceded in each of their last 21 matches since a 3-0 win against Chelsea in August 2022.
• Leeds-born striker Haaland scored two Premier League goals on his last visit to Elland Road in December 2022 for City, although he has not netted in his two home games against Leeds. No visiting player has scored two-plus goals in consecutive Premier League visits to Elland Road.
• Nico O’Reilly has scored in each of his last two Premier League appearances for City. The last City player to net in three in a row before the age of 21 was Foden in June/July 2020.
• Three of Anton Stach’s four Premier League goals have been direct free-kick goals, with only Ian Harte in 2000-01 (4) ever scoring more in a Premier League season for Leeds. He’s the first player to score three in his debut Premier League season since James Maddison in 2018-19 (3 for Leicester) and only Laurent Robert in 2001-02 for Newcastle has more in his first season (5).