Callum Doyle, James McAtee, Joel Ndala all start – Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Celtic (Pre-Season Friendly) | OneFootball

Manchester City will embark on their first of four pre-season friendly matches in the United States on Tuesday night as they take on Celtic in North Carolina.

The Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill will play host to a contest that showcases a meeting between the reigning champions of England’s Premier League and the equivalent in the Scottish Premier League.

Manchester City against Celtic will be the first meeting between the two clubs since their UEFA Champions League group stage double-header back in 2016, during Pep Guardiola’s first-ever season in charge at the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff have a significantly limited first-team selection over in the United States for the first match of their pre-season tour, with only Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, and Kalvin Phillips being the senior outfield players.

Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb compliment the first-team picture, whilst there is also experience in senior football through the likes of Callum Doyle, James McAtee, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, and the club’s goalkeeping contingent of Ederson, Stefan Ortega, and Scott Carson.

As Manchester City look to step up their pre-season preparations by taking part in on-field match action this week, here is how we believe Pep Guardiola could line-up his side against Celtic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina!

Predicted XI

Any of Pep Guardiola’s three goalkeepers could start this one given the early stage of the pre-season tour, however we feel as though a show of confidence and belief could be made by starting Ederson amid continuous links to Saudi Arabia.

As for the formation, that is almost an impossible task at this stage of the tour, and given the players available to Pep Guardiola, and as such we’ll be sticking to a traditional 4-3-3 with a deep-lying midfielder and lone striker in the side.

Rico Lewis is Manchester City’s only senior right-back in the squad in North Carolina this week, and may not be joined by Kyle Walker until after the FA Community Shield against Manchester United, depending on the agreed return dates for the Euro 2024 finalists.

At centre-back, we believe a first-team debut could be handed to the club’s FA Youth Cup final-winning captain Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, operating alongside Luke Mbete – who returns to the club off the back of a loan spell with Dutch side FC Den Bosch.

Left-back is likely to see Guardiola deploy the versatile Callum Doyle, who is expected to finalise a season-long loan move to Norwich City in the Championship for the upcoming 2024/25 season, but only upon completion of pre-season in the United States.

Pep Guardiola has a number of youthful options available to him for the defensive midfield role, but following a challenging few months, this could be a chance to see the return of Kalvin Phillips in a Manchester City shirt.

Ahead of him in the more advanced midfield roles, we believe we could see James McAtee handed the chance to show exactly why Pep Guardiola wants to retain him in his first-team squad for the upcoming season.

Alongside the Englishman, Jack Grealish could be utilised in centrally due to the absence of other names from the first-team squad. And with many supporters calling for the 28-year-old to be given a chance in the middle, this could be a huge opportunity for the former Villa man.

Oscar Bobb is likely to make up part of Manchester City’s front-three, operating from the right in this one, and in a role that he has impressed so many both in a Sky Blue shirt and for the Norway national team.

Erling Haaland will start up-front for City, but we could see debuts for the likes of Jaden Heskey – who has been hugely impressive in the club’s youth academy ranks.

From the left, we believe – and are somewhat hoping – that Joel Ndala could be given the keys to showcase his highly-rated talents at senior level for Manchester City, and in front of Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff.

Starting XI: Ederson; Lewis, Simpson-Pusey, Mbete, Doyle; Phillips, McAtee, Grealish; Bobb, Haaland, Ndala.

Substitutes: Ortega, Carson, Samuel, Mfuni, Katongo, Galvez, Wilson-Esbrand, Susoho, Wright, Perrone, O’Reilly, Oboavwoduo, Fatah, Heskey, Hamilton, Knight.