Pep Guardiola has picked Erling Haaland to start for Manchester City at Brighton tonight as he continues his post-Premier League title rotation.
Ederson remains on the City bench with Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish, Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias out of the squad for the clash at the Amex Stadium.
Kevin De Bruyne returns to the midfield in a 4-3-3 system that appears to have Rodri at centre-back alongside John Stones.
“They are not fit,” Guardiola told Sky Sports pre-game.
“You know with the Premier League, many players are injured. Three, four, five - all of them are not fit. No Aymeric, no Akanji, no Ruben, no Grealish. We’ll see how they recover for the next days.”
Cole Palmer, Shea Charles and Ben Knight are among a number of youngsters on the bench.
Guardiola has also left out Nathan Ake after insisting he will not rush the defender back from a hamstring injury.
The versatile Dutch centre-back has not played since the 2-1 win over relegation-threatened Leeds on May 6, with City’s focus on securing the treble with the FA Cup and Champions League finals against Manchester United and Inter respectively.
“He’s getting better,” Guardiola said of Ake’s fitness in his pre-Brighton press conference on Tuesday. “He’s at the latter stage. We have to be careful after being injured for the second time, in case we need him for United or Inter.
“He’s getting better, I don’t know if he will arrive tomorrow or Brentford but the latter stages.”
Man City XI: Ortega; Walker, Stones, Rodri, Lewis; Gundogan, De Bruyne, Silva; Mahrez, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ederson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Charles, O’Reilly, Palmer, Robertson, Knight.
