On Saturday night in the Premier League, Manchester City will travel to Villa Park to take on Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa.
Villa will play City on Saturday.
Erling Haaland's participation in Manchester City's Saturday trip to Aston Villa depends on Pep Guardiola's decision.
Haaland has a record-breaking nine goals in five league games after scoring back-to-back hat-tricks in the Premier League. On Wednesday against Nottingham Forest, he was outstanding once more. After the trip to Villa, City will face a challenging trio of games against Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad, Sevilla away in the Champions League, and Tottenham at home in the Premier League.
So, considering the Villa trip as a potential option, it's feasible that Guardiola decides to rest Haaland at some time. Although he intimated the trip to the Midlands may come too soon for Kalvin Phillips at least, Guardiola will also be hoping for good news on the injured trio Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips, and Nathan Ake who may be nearing returns.
To choose your best starting XI, use the interactive team selection after reading about how our authors believe City should line up:
Bajkowski, Simon
The back five choose themselves. However, a clean sheet is a clean sheet, and more importantly, there isn't much competition right now for defense due to injuries. Nottingham Forest weren't particularly impressive.
After waiting on the sidelines throughout the middle of the week, Kevin De Bruyne must start, and if Ilkay Gundogan needs playing time to prepare for the Champions League, it makes sense. Through the middle, Julian Alvarez had a strong showing and ought to continue.
Erling Haaland can relax in the second half of every game if he scores first, even if he will eventually need a break. He simply has too wonderful of an appearance to be ignored. Phil Foden can be replaced by Riyad Mahrez to start.
Bray, Joe
Even though Villa won't be easy prey, the next three contests are much tougher than this one, so I'd maintain Erling Haaland as a backup choice.Because of his performance against Nottingham Forest, Julian Alvarez merits the chance to lead the line by himself. City should generate enough opportunities with the addition of Riyad Mahrez, who is back from his Wednesday early withdrawal, and a refreshed Phil Foden.
Since he rested for the majority of the game against Forest, Kevin De Bruyne should be back, Rodri will have to start, and Bernardo is a more dynamic midfielder than Ilkay Gundogan.
There is a desire to start new defender Manuel Akanji, but it would probably be smarter to keep him on the bench and use him as needed rather than starting him right away.
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