Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Everton (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City will be hoping to pick up where they left off before the international break against an Everton side that will be without a high-flying Jack Grealish.

City will look to pick up where they left off having entered the October break off the back of a composed 0-1 victory over Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, settled by a ninth-minute finish from Erling Haaland that proved enough to secure all three points.

During the break, City players continued their good form as Erling Haaland scored in an 11th consecutive match, with Tijjani Reijnders also among the goals. Mateo Kovacic made his return after a four-month spell on the sidelines in Croatia’s 3-0 win against Gibraltar.

David Moyes’ Everton are the team to visit the Etihad Stadium hoping to put a stop to City’s steady form. They will, however, be without August’s Premier League Player of the Month Jack Grealish with competition rules barring the star forward from facing his parent club.

Last time the two teams faced off in action, Manchester City walked away from Goodison Park, in their final visit to the iconic Merseyside venue, as 0-2 winners thanks to strikes from Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly.

City’s injury concerns have eased considerably in recent weeks as Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Rayan Aït-Nouri are all expected to be available for selection following the international break.

Furthermore, Rayan Cherki and Mateo Kovačić have both returned to full training and are ready to rejoin first-team action, while Rodri’s availability remains as yet unconfirmed following his hamstring problem during the win over Brentford earlier this month.

Here is how we predict Pep Guardiola will line-up his Manchester City side on Saturday afternoon!

Predicted XI

Gianluigi Donnarumma is the obvious choice to start between the posts with nothing to suggest that the Italian international will be losing his starting spot any time soon in current form.

Everton may have been the perfect game to reintroduce Abdukodir Khusanov to the side at right-back despite Matheus Nunes having been in relatively good form. However, with the Uzbekistan international still struggling for fitness, it may be the Portuguese midfielder who holds down the position for this one.

The rest of the City backline will likely remain unchanged this weekend with Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, and Nico O’Reilly all starting the last four Premier League games for Pep Guardiola.

That trio have given Guardiola no reason to look elsewhere, having been in excellent form as a combination. Rayan Aït-Nouri is set for his return to the squad soon but he may have to earn back his spot in the line-up if O’Reilly’s recent performances are anything to go by.

In the last match, Nico Gonzalez did not put a foot wrong when he stepped in for Rodri in the first-half against Brentford following the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner’s injury. The former FC Porto man has looked more and more comfortable in the deep-lying midfield role with every minute he plays, even completing the most tackles in the win against the Bees.

Rodri may not be ruled out entirely for this one, or perhaps for not many matches, but with Nico shaping up to be a more than capable deputy in Guardiola’s set-up, it may not be worth rushing the 29-year-old back this weekend.

Tijjani Reijnders has had an extremely promising start to life at Manchester City and continued his good form into the international break for the Netherlands. He provides all the energy that last season’s midfield struggled to maintain and should retain his spot this time.

Phil Foden may not have had his best game of the season against Brentford but he is fully rested having not been part of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad. Should he start this weekend, he’ll no doubt be hoping to pick back up an extremely promising start to the season centrally.

Savinho is the most likely choice to start on the right of attack this weekend despite having struggled to get going so far this season after a seemingly busy summer for the Brazilian, both on and off the pitch. Pep Guardiola will be keen for the 21-year-old to find his feet sooner rather than later, with Rayan Cherki providing extra competition for a spot.

Erling Haaland will lead the line for the Blues once again, and will be looking to score in a 12th consecutive match for both club and country. The Norway international was given permission to head back to Manchester following their 5-0 win against Israel, giving him time to rest and recover with a short trip to the south of Spain during that time.

He may not have been involved in too many goals over the break, but did put in a stellar showing during Belgium’s away win against Wales, and there’s nothing to suggest Jeremy Doku will be slowing down anytime soon. The tricky winger has been nothing short of brilliant so far, and the Everton backline will have to be at their very best to keep him quiet.

There’s nothing to suggest that City boss Pep Guardiola will choose to deviate in his tactical setup in any way this weekend in what is very much a case of “don’t fix what’s not broken”.

Starting XI: Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Nico, Reijnders, Foden; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.

Substitutes: Trafford, Lewis, Stones, Ake, Ait-Nouri, Kovacic, Bernardo, Cherki, Bobb.