Man City lineup vs. Aston Villa: Predicted XI for Premier League final-day clash

Not only will Manchester City bid farewell to manager Pep Guardiola, but they will also give a special send-off to captain Bernardo Silva and John Stones in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.

Both Bernardo and Stones will be leaving the Citizens this summer when they contracts expire and both players are expected to feature in some capacity in this final-day fixture.

While Bernardo is likely to start with the armband, it remains to be seen whether Stones will also be named in the first XI as part of a four-man defence, or will make an appearance as a substitute.

Now that Man City cannot win the Premier League title, Guardiola will presumably rotate his team for this dead-rubber match, so James Trafford could be handed his first top-flight start since August at the expense of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly all began in defence when the Citizens drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Tuesday, but Stones, Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rico Lewis will all be battling for starts in defence this weekend.

Phil Foden has surprisingly been left out of England’s World Cup squad, but he could be handed a start in Man City’s midfield, with Rodri, Mateo Kovacic, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico Gonzalez and Rayan Cherki also set to complete for a start alongside Bernardo.

Erling Haaland is set to win his third Premier League Golden Boot in four seasons at Man City. He currently has 27 goals to his name, but should he score a hat-trick on the final day he will become just the second player in the division’s history after Alan Shearer to score 30+ goals in more than one season.

Whether the Norwegian starts remains to be seen, though, as Omar Marmoush could potentially be given the nod up front instead, while Jeremy Doku, Antoine Semenyo and Savinho are all contenders to begin out wide.

Manchester City possible starting lineup: Trafford: Nunes, Stones, Ake, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, Bernardo; Savinho, Foden, Doku; Marmoush

> Click here to see how Aston Villa could line up against Manchester City

Check out Sports Mole's video preview for Man City vs. Aston Villa:

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