The upcoming World Cup is on the the minds of plenty of players and football fans right now, but before the tournament begins Manchester City still have one more Premier League fixture to concern themselves with.
City will take on Brentford in a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, and will look to keep up the pressure on league leaders Arsenal. The Gunners don't play until Saturday evening, meaning a win would see City move to the top of the pile for a few hours at least.
Pep Guardiola has a near-full compliment of players to pick from for the match - only Kyle Walker remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a groin injury.
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The fitness of Erling Haaland is the main talking point - although he came off the bench to score the winner against Fulham last weekend and was in the squad midweek, he has not fully recovered from a foot injury, so may not start.
The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden started the midweek Carabao Cup defeat of Chelsea on the bench, so they could return to the starting XI.
Defence
Over the past few months Guardiola has tended to rotate his central defenders on a game-by-game basis, so it seems likely that he will do that on Saturday. If that is the case then Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte can expect to be replaced by Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake, while John Stones could come in at right-back in place of 17-year-old Rico Lewis.
Joao Cancelo is available after serving a one-match suspension, so he will likely start at left-back.
Midfield
Although Rodri did start against Chelsea on Wednesday, he was able to rest in the second half when he was replaced by Kalvin Phillips. A similar sharing of minutes could happen again on Saturday.
Kevin De Bruyne should be well-rested after having Wednesday night off, so he will likely start along with Bernardo Silva.
Attack
If Haaland is deemed not fit enough to start then Julian Alvarez will get the nod for a sixth successive match. In his last five games in all competitions the Argentine striker has scored three goals and provided two assists.
Phil Foden has started none of City's last three Premier League outings, but given that he didn't get off the bench on Wednesday it would be surprising if he doesn't start this one. Jack Grealish was excellent on Wednesday so deserves to keep his starting role on the left flank.
Predicted XI: Ederson; Stones, Akanji, Ake, Cancelo; Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo; Foden, Alvarez, Grealish.
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