Manchester City and Leeds United have confirmed their starting lineups ahead of kickoff at the Etihad | OneFootball

Manchester City and Leeds United have confirmed their starting lineups ahead of today’s pivotal Premier League fixture at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola’s side enters today’s match off the back of consecutive defeats to Newcastle United and Bayer Leverkusen. Today’s match is one that City simply must win. With Arsenal taking on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, City has an opportunity to pick up vital three points today. They’ll have to overcome a tough Leeds side who are seemingly in a fight for Premier League survival this season.

Manchester City will enter today’s match with Mateo Kovacic and Rodri unavailable for today’s match. Pep Guardiola informed the media yesterday that Rodri is edging closer to a return. He hasn’t featured for City since the beginning of November when he came on as a late substitute in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Andoni Iraola’s side.

Here are the starting lineups for today’s match at the Etihad.

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has swung the axe and made nine changes to the starting lineup that performed so poorly against Bayer Leverkusen. The two players who remain in the starting lineup are Nico and Tijjani Reijnders. That news isn’t a surprise given how poor a host of Manchester City’s fringe players performed on Tuesday evening. There is a stronger look to the City lineup for today’s match, and the hope is that City can pick up a precious three points today.

Starting lineup: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo Silva (C), Tijjani Reijnders, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland.

Substitutes: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Cherki, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Khusanov, Lewis.

Leeds United

Starting lineup: Perri; Bogle, Rodon, Strujik, Justin; Ampadu, Gruev, Tanaka; James, Nmecha, Gnonto.

Substitutes: Meslier, Byram, Gudmundsson, Bijol, Harrison, Aaronson, Okafor, Piroe, Calvert-Lewin.