What to Watch For: Citizens Look to Remain Undefeated in EPL
SWANSEA, WALES – SEPTEMBER 21: Neil Taylor of Swansea City during the EFL Cup Third Round Premier match between Swansea City and Manchester City at The Liberty Stadium on September 21, 2016 in Swansea, Wales. (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)
After a 2-1 victory over Swansea City in Round #3 of the EFL Cup on Wednesday, Manchester City gear up to face the Swans in EPL play on Saturday at the Liberty Stadium.
Pep Guardiola‘s side advanced to the fourth round of the EFL Cup after goals from Gael Clichy and Aleix Garcia lifted the Citizens over the Swans on Wednesday. Now the focus turns to the Premier League, where Manchester City still sit in the top spot of the standings.
Swansea sit in 15th after a 1-0 defeat at Southampton last weekend. Wednesday’s goalscorer Glyfi Sigurdsson should be available from the start on Saturday after coming off the bench midweek. Record signing Borja Baston could be fit to make his full Premier League debut on Saturday as well. Lukasz Fabianski should get the starting nod in-goal as well.
Manchester City will have the services of star forward Sergio Aguero on Saturday after he served the final game of his three match suspension on Wednesday. David Silva could be fit, while Fabian Delph could miss out due to match fitness. Nolito will miss out due to suspension, while Vincent Kompany will miss out after suffering a groin injury during Wednesday’s Cup tie.
Here are three things to watch for during Saturday’s EPL clash.
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1.) Look for the Stones/Otamendi partnership to continue.
With Vincent Kompany out now with a groin problem, look for the center-back duo of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones to continue. These two have been a dynamic duo to start the campaign and have done extremely well against good competition. With Borja Baston, Glyfi Sigurdsson, and Madou Barrow to deal with compared to other attacking weapons, I think the Manchester City back-line will be fine.
2.) Expect Sergio Aguero to come out with some fire.
After missing out on the last two league fixtures, Sergio Aguero will be back leading the line for Manchester City. The Argentine has nine goals in all competitions this season and has been a huge problem for opposing back-lines. With Kelechi Iheanacho filling in great during the absence of Aguero, I expect Aguero to play with a lot of emotion in his return to league action.
3.) Look for plenty of changes in the Swansea City line-up.
With cup competitions causing changes in squad lineups, expect Swansea boss Francesco Guiodlin to make numerous changes. Glyfi Sigurdsson, Lukasz Fabianski, Madou Barrow, and Leroy Fer are just a few players we should see in the Swans starting line-up. 7-8 total changes could be made following the midweek defeat which has Guidolin on the brink of being replaced.
My prediction sees the Citizens return to Manchester on Saturday with a 2-0 victory on the road. Pep will earn his 10th successive victory in all competitions and most importantly, the team will remain #1 in the league standings.
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