Manchester City will be looking to make it 22 not out when they host city rivals Manchester United at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.
Since being surprisingly held by West Brom just before Christmas, Pep Guardiola‘s side have swept all before them both at home and on the continent and now have a place in the history books in their sights.
City are three wins away from breaking the record winning sequence for a club in Europe’s “big five” leagues set by Bayern Munich just last year.
Looking further ahead, they could emulate the great Ajax team of the 1990s by extending it to 25 games and will become all-time hall-of-famers if they surpass Welsh side TNS’ record of 27 games set in 2016.
While City have been flying, their opponents appear to have had their wings clipped. United have drawn four of their last five Premier League games to slip 14 points behind the leaders.
Given their contrasting fortunes, City are big favourites to continue their winning streak and Guardiola’s cause is further helped by having a full-strength squad to pick from.
Defence
Ederson aside, Ruben Dias has played the most minutes in the Premier League for City this season, despite joining from Benfica after their first two matches.
The Portuguese is the lynchpin of Guardiola’s backline with both John Stones and Aymeric Laporte rotating for the second central defensive slot alongside him.
Stones has rediscovered his top form this season following a couple of indifferent campaigns and is expected to return to the starting XI on Sunday after sitting out the midweek win over Wolves.
Joao Cancelo started on the left against Wolves but could shuffle back across to his favoured position in the right where he has become a chief source of creativity when drifting into central pockets.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is ahead of Benjamin Mendy in the left back pecking order these days and could come in for Kyle Walker in a defensive reshuffle.
Midfield
Ilkay Gundogan has emerged as one of the front-runners to win the PFA Premier League of the Year award following a sensational run of goalscoring form and he is a shoo-in to return on Sunday after being afforded a rest against Wolves.
Guardiola chucked Gundogan on with 10 minutes to play as City sought to turn a draw into a win and he helped turn the game in his side’s favour as they ran out 4-1 winners.
The German playmaker is City’s leading scorer in the league this season with 11 goals.
Gundogan will likely take it in turns with the fit-again Kevin De Bruyne to take up advanced positions in United’s half, with Rodri acting as the anchor man between them and the back four.
Attack
Sergio Aguero’s return to fitness is timely but Guardiola has frequently stressed the need to manage the Argentine’s minutes after such a long time on the sidelines. And with Gabriel Jesus in good form, the need to rush Aguero back is significantly reduced.
Jesus has had his critics during his time in Manchester but he will be buoyed from scoring twice against Wolves on Tuesday night. The Brazilian could face competition for the centre forward role from Raheem Sterling but will feel he has done enough to retain his spot.
Sterling has an awful record against United, remarkably failing to score in 22 matches against them. Despite that, Guardiola rarely drops Sterling in big matches and his position on one of the flanks seems secure.
Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden will compete with the other slot. Mahrez has impressed of late, providing two goals and two assists in his previous four Premier League matches. The Algerian has played the full 90 minutes in each of those games, though, and may drop out for the well-rested Foden.
Man City’s expected 4-3-3 line-up: Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Foden, Sterling, Jesus.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2O39BZS
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