Its matchday three in the Champions League this week and Manchester City are in Spain to face Villarreal at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday, October 21st (KO 8.00pm) with live coverage on TNT Sports 1.
Manchester City have four points from their opening two matches following a 2-0 win at home to Napoli and 2-2 draw in Monaco, while they are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions.
Manchester City predicted lineup vs Villarreal
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Stones, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Gonzalez; Bobb, Silva, Foden, Doku; Haaland.
Rodri is once more the main point of concern for Manchester City with the key midfielder unlikely to be back before the start of November.
Better news comes for Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki, who are both likely to be available for selection following injuries.
Manchester City team news vs Villarreal
Manchester City are in the midst of an eight-game unbeaten run following Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League success against Everton.
Pep Guardiola seemingly won’t have any further injury worries coming off the back of that win against the Toffees, in which Erling Haaland scored a second-half brace.
Rayan Ait-Nouri is close to a return to full fitness and could be in contention in Spain, while Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki are also expected to be available following injuries.
The absence of Rodri continues to be a source of anguish for the Citizens, while Abdukodir Khusanov is another on the treatment table currently.
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Manchester City aim to end away day blues
Manchester City have upped their game of late, the win over Everton making it eight games without a loss, but Guardiola will know they need to get their act together in Europe.
Eric Dier thumped home a stoppage-time penalty in Monaco last month to deny City victory and it means they are now five games without a win on their travels in the Champions League since taking care of minnows Slovan Bratislava in the league phase last season.
Defeats against Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid followed and they were unable to close out against Monaco despite Haaland twice giving them an advantage in the first half.
They do, though, have good memories of facing the Yellow Submarine. City won the only previous matches between the teams in the 2011/12 Champions League group stage, 2-1 in Manchester when Sergio Aguero scored an added-time winner – and 3-0 in Villarreal with Yaya Toure scoring a brace.
Villarreal’s recent record against English opposition will provide fuel for City’s belief too. They lost 1-0 to Tottenham last month and have now failed to win any of their last eight against Premier League teams, losing five on the trot.
City, however, are without a win in five matches against Spanish clubs (D3 L2), so something must give.
At their compact El Madrigal base Villarreal have lost just one of their last 10 European games, though perhaps more surprisingly, Guardiola’s team have won only two of their last nine Champions League matches (D2 L5).
Haaland’s weekend double will leave him purring and the Norwegian finisher has quite the record in the league/group phase of this competition, scoring a whopping 36 goals in his 32 games so far.
If he can continue on that sort of ratio, City will be well on their way to arresting their poor recent form on the continent.