How Manchester City could line up vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Just three days after playing out a Champions League classic with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City face the same opposition again in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime.

The match provides a quick opportunity for City to exact revenge having seen their quadruple hopes ended by their quarter-final exit, despite winning a seven-goal thriller 4-3 on the night.

The decisive element of VAR will not be in use in the Premier League, of course, while this weekend the same scoreline would suit City much better and send them back to the top of the table until at least Sunday.

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

Out: Claudio Bravo (Achilles) Doubtful: Oleksandr Zinchenko (hamstring)

> Click here for Man City's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Guardiola would no doubt like to rotate his squad this weekend following such an energy-sapping contest in midweek, but the level of the opposition means that he is only likely to make limited changes despite Manchester United awaiting at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

One of the players to come in could be Leroy Sane, who was only handed a short cameo in midweek. The German is competing for places with in-form duo Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva, both of whom have made themselves indispensable for City this season, but the latter could drop into midfield to make room for Sane this weekend.

Sergio Aguero is expected to lead the line once again while Kevin De Bruyne's hat-trick of assists proves that he is returning to his best form once again, making him almost undroppable for this match.

Fernandinho will be hopeful of regaining his place in the starting XI after missing out to Ilkay Gundogan in midweek, while there could also be changes at the back after City shipped three damaging away goals.

Aymeric Laporte was particularly at fault for the first two of those, and Guardiola is blessed with the strength in depth to be able to bring Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones into his starting lineup.

Oleksandr Zinchenko could return from his hamstring injury to compete for a place at left-back, but fit-again Benjamin Mendy at this point looks to be favourite to retain his spot in the back four.

> Click here to see how Tottenham could line up for this match