How Manchester City could line up against Burnley

Manchester City will be looking to improve a poor run of domestic form when they welcome Burnley to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Citizens comfortably secured their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with two games to spare during the week, but their Premier League fortunes have been far worse in 2020-21.

Indeed, City have endured their worst start to a season for more than a decade, with only two wins in their last seven league outings leaving them 13th in the table.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how Pep Guardiola could set his side up for the contest.

Out: None Doubtful: Nathan Ake (hamstring) > Click here for Man City's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match Guardiola was able to give Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker the night off for the trip to Athens in midweek, and they are among the players who will come back into the side for this match. The returns of Fernandinho and Benjamin Mendy in midweek mean that Nathan Ake is Man City's only remaining doubt, with their early-season injury problems now seemingly in the past. Whether Guardiola feels the turnaround in fixtures is too quick to play Fernandinho and Mendy from the start this weekend remains to be seen, but they are both likely to come into the starting XI on a regular basis again in the coming weeks. It was up front where their past injury problems were most keenly felt, but Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero are both now back fit again and the latter could make only his third Premier League appearance of the season on Saturday. Aguero boasts a formidable scoring record against the Clarets, netting nine times in his last nine appearances in this fixture. Behind him, Guardiola must decide whether to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation that Man City began the season with and reverted to on Wednesday, or whether to switch back to 4-3-3. Either way, Phil Foden will be hoping that his winner in midweek earns him a start, although he has found himself reduced to a substitute's role in the Premier League recently. Ferran Torres and Aymeric Laporte are among the other players hopeful of being recalled to the side after sitting out of the starting lineup in Athens.