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Following his surprise team selection on Saturday, Pep Guardiola may choose to reinstate Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez to the starting eleven for Tuesday night’s game against Borussia Monchengladback in the Champions League.
City have a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the knockout round against the German team and will return to Budapest for the second with the confidence of being included in Friday’s quarter-final draw.
Heading into the game, all eyes will be on what the Guardiola team chooses after he raised many eyebrows with his selection for the weekend trip to Fulham.
The Blues boss dropped several of his previously untouchable midfield and forwards on the wing and also switched the formation to a back-three for the first time in a long time.
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It resulted in a stunted performance by City, but they finished comfortably winners by improving their game in the second half, with John Stones, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Agüero scoring the goals in the 3-0 victory.
As Guardiola has shown, it is difficult to predict which team he will pick, but it is safe to assume that we will see a more traditional lineup for such an important game.
That means we could see a return to his typical 4-3-3, with Kyle Walker and Aleks Zinchenko returning to fill the full-back positions. Ruben Dias is perhaps the only outfield player on the side who is truly inescapable now, so he will likely keep his place alongside Aymeric Laporte, with John Stones rested.
Pep Guardiola has agreed to a two-year contract extension as Manchester City manager.
This is great news for Blues everywhere, as Pep has agreed to extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium until the summer of 2023.
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Captain Fernandinho could return to the center of the park for his only game of the week, with De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan returning to his side after both were left on the bench at Craven Cottage.
Aguero may have found the net for the first time in more than a year in the league on Saturday, but Guardiola may be hesitant to start him in another game so quickly. As a result, the Argentine could be eliminated, with Gabriel Jesús moving back to the middle of the top three.
Raheem Sterling has made the trip after his exclusion at the weekend, but it does not seem likely that he will return to the team. Instead, the fit couple of Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden could get the nod.
Manchester City vs Gladbach Predicted Starting XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Foden.
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