Confirmed Team News and Injury Updates – Leicester City vs Manchester City (Premier League)

The defending champions will hope to overcome a familiar foe when they meet Brendan Rodgers’ side in round four of the Premier League season.

Leicester have troubled City in recent years and will prove to be a tough opposition when Pep Guardiola’s men show up on the pitch for three valuable points.

Manchester City have begun their upward trajectory sooner than expected following the disappointing loss against Tottenham and will be desperate to grab all three points in a bid to keep up with their title rivals.

The Foxes meanwhile have had a decent start to their season as they grabbed the Community Shield title after almost five decades following their 1-0 victory against Manchester City back in August. 

The East Midlands side is currently just below City at the 9^th position in the Premier League table with two victories in three games.

Ahead of today’s clash at the King Power Stadium, here is all the team news for both sides…

Manchester City Team News

Pep Guardiola found himself in an unusual position this week with uncertainty over the involvement of his Brazilian superstars namely Ederson and in-form winger Gabriel Jesus, owing to FIFA’s attempts to place a five-day ban on the South American players whose clubs refused to let them play in this past week's CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.

Premier League clubs unanimously agreed last month not to release players for matches in countries on the UK Government's red list, angering the South American football federations, who requested FIFA to invoke Article 5 to block Premier League clubs from selecting the concerned players.

However, after intense discussions throughout the week between the Premier League, English FA, FIFA and the Brazilian Football Confederation, City's Brazilian duo along with fellow nationals were cleared to play this weekend courtesy of a breakthrough in discussions late at night on Friday.

Pep Guardiola will therefore have Ederson and Gabriel Jesus at his disposal for Saturday's fixture after all. This news will be music to Guardiola’s ears, such is the situation around City’s goalkeeping department. 

With backup goalkeeper Zack Steffen set to be out of contention for 10-15 days due to a positive COVID test while on international duty with the USMNT, and the strange situation surrounding Ederson, City could have been left with their third-choice goalkeeper Scott Carson as the only senior shot stopper.

Speaking about his star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who was battling an ankle injury but has since handed City a massive boost after his return to full training, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said, ""Kevin trained good the last week, part alone, part with 3 or 4 players here. He feels much better."

Guardiola will assess De Bruyne’s situation on Saturday and the Belgian is likely to start on the bench with scope for action later in the game.

Phil Foden who picked up a foot injury in training just before England’s European Championship Final has made tremendous progress since and has completed his first training session with the squad. However, his injury is seen as a risk and more precautions will be taken before he sees any regular action.

Centre back pair Aymeric Laporte and John Stones shrugged of their respective injury scares during their international break fixtures and should be available for selection on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the rest of City’s squad is fully fit and raring to go at full strength. Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte are most likely to start in City’s defence on Saturday.

Bernardo Silva, who scored a brilliant goal for Portugal, will retain his position in City’s midfield alongside Ilkay Gundogan and a fully recharged Fernandinho.

Gabriel Jesus will be eager to continue his menacing form alongside Jack Grealish and Ferran Torres.

Leicester City Team News

Meanwhile, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed he will have nearly all his players available for the game against the defending champions.

Latest centre back addition Jannik Vestergaard and veteran Jonny Evans came through a training game last week and will be assessed just before the game.

However, the foxes will surely be without full-back James Justin and Wesley Fofana due to injury. Ayoze Perez will be unavailable due to suspension following a red card against West Ham United.

Kasper Schmeichel is expected to start in goal with Çağlar Söyüncü and Daniel Amartey getting the green signal at the heart of Leicester's defence alongside Ricardo Pereira and young left-back Luke Thomas.

Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi are likely to start in a two-man defensive midfield setup with James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, spearhead Jamie Vardy and former City player Kelechi Iheanacho up top.