Man City XI vs. Wolves: Guardiola Makes Guehi Decision—Injury News, Lineup Prediction

New signings could hold the key to a Premier League title challenge resurgence.

Marc Guéhi (left) is available to debut. | Manchester City

Manchester City’s poor run of form has allowed Arsenal to open up a seven point lead at the top of the Premier League table—a gap they will hope to close at home to bottom of the table Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The eight-time Premier League winners have two new signings in their ranks, though, having forked out decent chunks of money to sign Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace respectively.

Both should have a prominent role at the Etihad Stadium as the hosts look to get back to winning ways after going four Premier League matches without a win.

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Match Snapshot

• 🕒 Kick-off time: 3:00 p.m. GMT, 10:00 a.m. ET, 7:00 a.m. PT
• 📍 Location: Etihad Stadium
• 🏆 Competition: Premier League
• 📊 Recent form: WDDDL

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Team News

Pep Guardiola was keen to remind himself and those in attendance at Friday’s press conference that he has an "extraordinary" group of players at his disposal, despite the recent nadirs.

One factor in City’s recent troubles has been a lengthening injury list that now boasts eight first team players. In defence, Matheus Nunes, John Stones, Joško Gvardiol and Ruben Dias are missing, while central midfield is lacking Mateo Kovačič and Nico González.

Winger Oscar Bobb and Savinho are also out—the latter nursing a hamstring injury that could sideline him until the end of February, the latter carrying a knock.

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Man City Predicted Lineup vs. Wolves

Saturday’s game is a must-win for the hosts. | FotMob

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma—There was no respite for Donnarumma in the week, and his three concessions in Bodø surely marked his lowest ebb since joining the club. Still, the Italian will start between the posts on Saturday.

RB: Abdukodir Khusanov—Khusanov has been used centrally as of late, but a new arrival could open the door for him to return to a full back position. He impressed here earlier in the season before picking up an injury.

CB: Marc Guéhi—Guardiola has confirmed that new signing Guéhi will be straight into the fold to make his debut, and that’s no surprise given City’s recent defensive issues.

CB: Nathan Aké—While Guéhi primarily played on the left of Oliver Glasner’s back three, he is right-footed and should be comfortable operating down his stronger side. Thus, the left-footed Aké could be the Englishman’s partner on debut.

LB: Nico O’Reilly—Rayan Aït-Nouri should earn minutes against his former club, but O’Reilly, who played in midfield on Tuesday, is set to get the nod at left back.

DM: Rodri—Guardiola may have to wheel out the struggling former Ballon d’Or winner again this weekend, despite his midweek red card in the Champions League.

RW: Antoine Semenyo—Semenyo cannot feature until the Champions League knockout stages, so he missed the trip to Bodø. The winger’s a shoo-in to return to the starting lineup right away.

CM: Tijjani Reijnders—Many projected Reijnders to dominate the Premier League after his display at Molineux on the opening weekend of the season. The midfielder has struggled to replicate that level of performance since, but perhaps the reverse fixture will bring the best out of him.

CM: Rayan Cherki—Cherki was on the scoresheet in the week and is likely to keep Phil Foden out of the team here.

LW: Jérémy Doku—The Belgian travelled to Norway but wasn’t used at all on Tuesday night. Thus, Doku should be fresh for Wolves’ visit.

ST: Erling Haaland—City’s woes in possession have contributed to Haaland’s downturn in scoring form, although the striker did have a couple of chances to end his drought from open play in the week. The Wolves box is bound to be congested on Saturday afternoon, but Haaland will be desperate to have a productive outing.

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