Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City welcome RB Leipzig to the Etihad on Tuesday for the second leg of a Champions League tie that is tantalisingly poised at 1-1.
The two sides could not be separated in Germany, with a Josko Gvardiol header cancelling out a Riyad Mahrez effort in the second half, and both sides have been in good form since.
Leipzig have lost just one of the three games, falling to a narrow 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, while City have won each of their last four as they look to hunt down the Premier League leaders Arsenal.
This week, however, their focus will be on the Champions League, which the Etihad outfit remain desperate to win. Here’s how we expect them to line up and the latest team news coming out of Manchester ahead of the clash.
📰 Table Of Contents
Predicted XI
Team News
Manchester City have no injuries to speak of, which means that Guardiola will have a full squad at his disposal for selection. Though he often throws curveballs in knockout games, we see him sticking largely to the side that picked up a 1-1 draw in Germany in the first leg.
The Spaniard appears to have shelved the Bernardo Silva experiment, meaning that Nathan Ake will keep his place at left back, while both Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker were substitutes for the weekend’s clash with Crystal Palace but are likely to start against Leipzig.
One man that this game could come too soon for is John Stones, who made his first appearance in six weeks against Palace and could find two games in four days too big an ask.
Beyond that, the team largely selects itself, with Guardiola having backed himself into a corner at full back and in midfield with his decision to offload Joao Cancelo and unwillingness to utilise Kalvin Phillips.
