Man City XI vs Crystal Palace: No Doku - Starting lineup, confirmed team news, injury latest | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola without key man for trip to Selhurst Park

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In the absence of Doku, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden will play in support of Erling Haaland, while Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes will get forward as attacking full-backs.

There is certainly an element of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it for City at the moment amid a four-match winning streak across all competitions.

Rodri remains sidelined, having played only a minute of football in more than two months.

City boss Pep Guardiola said last week that Rodri was “suffering” and “struggling” as he desperately seeks a comeback, but insisted he had to be protected and managed carefully to prevent any further issues being experienced by a player who missed most of last season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

He was not involved in either the wins over Sunderland or Real Madrid, though Guardiola insisted that he had not sustained any kind of setback and was “getting better” but still likely “weeks” away from returning.

Rodri’s midfield colleague Mateo Kovacic is also still absent with a long-term ankle injury, while defender John Stones is facing what is expected to be a short spell on the sidelines with a thigh issue.

Guardiola named an unchanged team to the one that brushed aside Sunderland for the midweek victory at Real Madrid in the Champions League, and only one change today is a reflection of how well City have been playing.

City’s back four looks settled at the moment with Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and O’Reilly sitting in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

For Egyptian forward Marmoush and Algeria’s Ait-Nouri, today is the final game for which they will be available before heading off to the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco next week.

Confirmed Man City XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Ake, Marmoush, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Khusanov, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis

Injured: Rodri, Kovacic, Stones

Time and date: 2pm GMT on Sunday December 14, 2025

How to watch: Sky Sports