Update: Man City line-up vs Crystal Palace predicted as injury news bites amid Phil Foden decision News

Early Manchester City team news ahead of Crystal Palace

Manchester City will be without Phil Foden for the Premier League game with Crystal Palace this lunchtime.

The midfielder has a knock that played a part in his substitution in the Manchester derby last weekend and could miss out today.

City are already without a clutch of senior players with Erling Haaland absent, defensive trio John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji all sidelined and Rodri on the long-term injury list. Pep Guardiola spoke last week about Akanji returning soon, but nobody is close enough to be considered for the Palace game.

Foden’s absence will mean at least one alteration to the side that played out a drab draw with Manchester United last time out. City could not unpick the Reds defence with Kevin De Bruyne playing as a false nine.

The Belgian, who announced last week he will be leaving the club after City opted not to give him a new deal, now seems likely to start in what is his first Etihad outing since his departure was confirmed. Omar Marmoush can lead the line and Jack Grealish could offer the Blues the control required against an in form Palace side who overload in the centre with a 3-4-3 system.

Jeremy Doku and Savinho will compete for the other wide slot with the Brazilian perhaps shading that race. Doku can offer a game-changing element from the bench.

Bernardo Silva had a better game against United and his ability to help out the full backs is a crucial element given City’s makeshift defence. He can line up alongside Nico Gonzalez in the middle with Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan dropping out.

In defence, Guardiola is not awash with options but continuing with Mathues Nunes at right back seems an unnecessary ploy. Rico Lewis seems out of favour at the moment so Abdukodir Khusanov could be deployed there with Nico O’Reilly continuing on the opposite flank. Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol can be paired in the centre with Ederson in goal.

City predicted XI: Ederson; Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Gonzalez, Bernardo, De Bruyne; Savinho, Marmoush, Grealish

Watch Man City vs Crystal Palace on TNT Sports

£30.99

TNT Sports/Discovery+

Get TNT Sports here

The Premier League is shown live on TNT Sports and you can sign up here.

TNT Sports costs £30.99 on a rolling monthly basis via the Discovery+ Prime Video channel and also includes the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

—

Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.

You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.

And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.