Ndiaye and Fernández set for City debuts against Coventry | OneFootball

Iliman Ndiaye and Enzo Fernández will make their Manchester City debuts against Coventry City as our only change from the side that beat Crystal Palace eight days ago.

Ndiaye, who joined from Everton, replaces Phil Foden in the starting line-up with the England man moving to the bench for today’s Premier League clash with a 15:00 (UK) kick-off.

Nico O’Reilly was originally named in the starting XI but suffered a setback in the warm-up and was replaced by Fernández.

Matheus Nunes also returns to the squad after missing our visit to London through injury.

TEAMS

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias (C), Guéhi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández, Ndiaye, Cherki, Semenyo, Haaland.

Subs: Rulli, Kovačić, Aït-Nouri, Nunes, Bouaddi, Foden, McAidoo, Lewis, F Samba.

COVENTRY XI: Rushworth, van Ewijk, Amenda, Thomas, Pinnock, DaSilva, Onyeka, Grimes (C), Rudoni, Mason-Clark, Awoniyi.

Subs: Bentley, Sakamoto, Yirenkyi, Simms, Tchaouno, Latibeaudiere, Thomas-Asante, Torp, Hamer.

HOW WE LINE UP

Making only change, Enzo Maresca looks like he’s going with a similar 4-2-3-1 system that worked so well against Palace last Friday night.

Then Marc Guéhi switched back to the centre of defence alongside Rúben Dias with Abdukodir Khusanov and Joško Gvardiol as our full-backs.

Elliot Anderson and Fernández are likely to anchor the midfield behind the creativity of Rayan Cherki with Antoine Semenyo potentially starting on the right with Ndiaye on the left and Erling Haaland through the middle.

Welcome new friends

The transfer window has closed and there’s huge excitement around our new signings.

Our final two captures were Ndiaye and Fernández, added to a squad brimming with potential and talent.

Anderson has already made his debut and shown his quality. In our last game against Crystal Palace, he recorded three interceptions, five tackles, five possession won and attempted 100 passes – becoming the first City midfielder to hit those tallies since Opta records began in 2003/04.

Bouaddi showed his quality in the World Cup with Morocco bossing the midfield in a draw with Brazil and showed his composure in his brief cameo at Selhurst Park.

Goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli completes the signings to round off a squad that Maresca says he is delighted with.

Welcome old friends

This is Coventry’s first ever visit to the Etihad Stadium with our last meeting almost a quarter of a century ago.

That was in March 2002 in the second tier at Maine Road when goals from Danny Tiatto, Shaun Wright-Phillips (two) and Darren Huckerby secured a 4-2 victory for Kevin Keegan’s side.

Our last meeting in the Premier League was in the 2000/01, when we lost 2-1 at home and drew 1-1 at Highfield Road.  In fact our last home win was back in March 1993 when Garry Flitcroft got the only goal.

Coventry manager Frank Lampard is returning though. A regular visitor with Chelsea, he spent a hugely successful season here in 2014/15, making 38 appearances and scoring eight goals including one against is old club.

Match stats

City are unbeaten in our last 30 Premier League games against newly-promoted sides  since losing 2-1 to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds in April 2021. Enzo Maresca’s most recent game against a promoted club was a 3-1 defeat to Leeds in December 2025 with Chelsea.

We are looking to win our opening three Premier League matches of a campaign for the third time in four attempts after 2023/24 and 2024/25. We have won their opening two home league games of a campaign in four of the last five seasons.

Coventry have lost 3-0 against Arsenal and 1-0 against Hull so far this season. On just four occasions have they lost each of their first three at the start of a league campaign – 1968/69 in the top-flight, and 1919/20, 1949/50 and 2011/12 in the second tier. They’ve never lost their opening three without finding the net.

City lead the Premier League for successful passes (1,315) so far this season and have played 94.6% of their passes short, the highest ratio in the league. They are also top for passing accuracy (90.9%) and passing accuracy while under high-intensity pressure (85.8%).

Coventry boss Frank Lampard has won just four and lost 20 of his last 32 Premier League matches.

Rayan Cherki has recorded four goal contributions across his opening two Premier League matches this season (two goals, two assists). Overall in the competition, the Frenchman has now recorded 15 across his 20 starts (five goals, 10 assists).

Erling Haaland has scored 19 goals in 20 Premier League appearances against newly promoted sides – this will be his first game against Coventry, with the Norwegian scoring against 23 of the 24 teams he’s faced so far, failing only versus Sunderland.