The starting lineups are in as Manchester City take on Brentford | OneFootball

Manchester City and Brentford have confirmed their starting lineups ahead of today’s Premier League fixture at the Etihad Stadium. The equation is simple for Pep Guardiola’s side. They simply have to beat Brentford today to have any hope of winning this season’s Premier League title. City enter today’s match five points behind Arsenal, who sit top of the league. City do, however, have a game in hand on the Gunners. City drew 3-3 with Everton last time out, and that result saw City hand the initiative in the title race to Mikel Arteta’s side. City will have to be at their best today to pick up all three points, as Brentford are a tough outfit and a quality side, as evidenced by the fact that they sat seventh on the Premier League table ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.

Manchester City have received a boost this week with Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol returning to training with their teammates late this week. Both players have now returned after lengthy spells out of action due to injury. However, it is unlikely that either player will start today’s match.

Rodri’s availability for today’s match is once again in doubt. The Spanish midfielder has missed Manchester City’s past three matches due to injury. When Pep Guardiola spoke yesterday, he didn’t seem confident that Rodri would play today against Brentford. Once again, Rodri’s availability for a match that Manchester City must win remains in doubt.

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

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola has made X changes to the starting eleven that began Manchester City’s 3-3 draw with Everton. In comes Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders. Nico drops to the bench for today’s match. Abdukodir Khusanov isn’t in the City squad for today’s match.

Rodri is not included in the Manchester City matchday squad for today’s match. That news doesn’t come as a major surprise but it is a blow City.

Starting lineup: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Marc Guehi, Nathan Ake, Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva, Tijjani Reijnders, Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland.

Substitutes: Trafford, Dias, Stones, Marmoush, Kovacic, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.

Brentford