Preview: Manchester City vs Leeds United - prediction, team news, lineups

Manchester City and Leeds United will both be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they square off at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The two teams meet for the first time since May 2023 when two first-half goals from Ilkay Gundogan secured a 2-1 top-flight victory for the Citizens on home soil.

Match preview

Pep Guardiola's 100th Champions League match in charge of Man City ended in disappointment after a much-changed lineup fell to a 2-0 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night – their first group-stage loss at the Etihad in just over seven years.

The Catalan’s decision to make 10 changes against a top-three Bundesliga team backfired, as it led to a disjointed performance from a collection of players who ultimately failed to seize their first-team opportunity. Guardiola has since ‘accepted’ that such extensive rotation was “too much”.

City’s self-inflicted stumble came just three days after losing 2-1 at Newcastle United in the Premier League, a result that ended a four-game winning streak in all competitions and has seen them slip to third in the table, seven points behind leaders Arsenal who travel to second-placed Chelsea on Sunday.

Guardiola will be seeking a response from his Citizens side, who enter Saturday’s contest with Leeds having won each of their last four Premier League meetings with the Whites – matching the number of victories that they managed in their first 16 encounters in the division (D5 L7). City have scored 16 goals across those four wins, with nearly half netted in a thumping 7-0 home victory in December 2021.

Man City are looking to win six consecutive home league matches by at least 2+ goals for the first time since a run of eight between January and May 2023, and they will buoyed by the fact that they have won 23 of their last 25 top-flight games against promoted clubs (D2), though their last such defeat was at home to Leeds in April 2021 (2-1).

A tricky run of fixtures against Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool is up next for an out-of-sorts Leeds outfit that has suffered defeat in five of their last six Premier League matches (W1), including the last three in a row against Brighton (3-0), Nottingham Forest (3-1) and Aston Villa (2-1).

As they did against Forest, Leeds opened the scoring in last weekend’s home clash with Villa through ex-Man City youngster Lukas Nmecha, but they conceded momentum in the second half and a brace from Morgan Rogers condemned the Whites to their seventh league loss of the campaign - they have never lost three top-flight games in a row having opened the scoring each time.

Each of Leeds’ last four Premier League goals have been scored in the opening 15 minutes of matches which is more than any other team in that timeframe this season, but only basement club Wolves (seven) have scored fewer goals than the Whites (11) overall after 12 games in the division.

Dubious tactical decisions have raised questions over the future of head coach Daniel Farke, who has seen his team concede at least one goal in each of their last nine Premier League games (17 in total) and slip into the relegation zone, albeit level on points with 17th-placed West Ham United.

Leeds have lost their last two away league games against Man City, last losing more consecutively between 1963 and 1968 (four). However, Farke can draw some encouragement from having masterminded a Premier League victory over the Citizens with Norwich in September 2019. Bryan Robson remains the only manager to defeat Man City with two different promoted clubs (Middlesbrough in 1995-96 and West Bromwich Albion in 2004-05).

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Leeds United Premier League form:

Team News

Manchester City will once again be without midfield duo Mateo Kovacic and Rodri, the former is facing a lengthy spell in the treatment room with an ankle/heel injury, while the latter still needs more time to build up his fitness after spending time on the sidelines with a hamstring problem.

The absence of both players will likely see Nico Gonzalez handed his seventh successive start at the base of Man City’s midfield, while Guardiola is expected to revert to a stronger first XI that Citizens supporters had become familiar with prior to the loss against Leverkusen.

A four-man defence of Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly will likely line up in front of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while either Tijjani Reijnders or captain Bernardo Silva could play alongside Gonzalez in midfield.

In-form Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki could all be recalled to provide support in attack for striker Erling Haaland, who was born in Leeds and is hoping to score his 100th Premier League goal in record-breaking time; the Norwegian has netted in each of his last five PL games at the Etihad.

As for Leeds, Anton Stach was forced off in last weekend’s defeat to Aston Villa and Farke has since confirmed that the summer signing “will definitely miss” the trip to the Etihad as he must follow concussion protocols.

Farke has also revealed that fellow midfielder Sean Longstaff will be out for “almost four to six weeks” with a calf injury, while defender Sebastiaan Bornauw (knee) missed training on Wednesday and a late call will be made on his availability.

The absence of Longstaff and Stach will likely see Ao Tanaka and Ilia Gruev handed starts in a three-man midfield alongside Ethan Ampadu, who is just one booking away from a Premier League suspension.

Nmecha will hope to keep his place up front ahead of Dominic Calvert-Lewin after starting and scoring in the last two matches – all three of his PL goals have put Leeds 1-0 up in a game and the only Whites player whose first four goals in the division were the opening goal was David Wetherall between 1993 and 1994.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Gonzalez; Cherki, Foden, Doku; Haaland

Leeds United possible starting lineup:

Perri; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson; Gruev, Ampadu, Tanaka; James, Nmecha, Gnonto

We say: Manchester City 3-0 Leeds United

Defeats suffered by Man City usually trigger an aggressive response from Guardiola’s side and that does not bode well for a Leeds outfit struggling to keep clean sheets and grind out positive results.

A refreshed and fired-up Citizens team, determined to avoid slipping further behind leaders Arsenal, will rightly be regarded as favourites at the Etihad and will back themselves to win by at least a couple of goals if they produce an improved performance this weekend.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.