Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Wydad AC (FIFA Club World Cup Group Stage) | OneFootball

Manchester City take on Morocco’s Wydad AC in their opening contest of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup held at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

It is the first time that Pep Guardiola and his side have taken on competitive action since the conclusion of the 2024/25 Premier League season, when a 0-2 win away to Fulham secured the club’s place in the next edition of the UEFA Champions League.

Manchester City will be wanting to get that winning feeling back almost immediately following their first season without major silverware since Guardiola’s debut campaign at the Etihad Stadium back in 2016/17, and that begins with the Club World Cup.

At present, there is not believed to be any concerns over fitness and injury within the Manchester City camp in the United States, but the likes of John Stones and Rodri may be handed additional time to build up their fitness following recent injuries.

It also remains to be seen how much the likes of Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva are involved in the first game, as well as those present with their respective national teams during the recent break, although all such names have trained as normal over the last few days.

Ahead of Manchester City’s upcoming FIFA Club World Cup clash against Wydad AC, here is how we predict Pep Guardiola will line-up his side at Lincoln Financial Field on Wednesday afternoon!

Predicted XI

With the starting line-up for the opening game of a brand new tournament next to impossible to predict, take this selection with a pinch of salt, and come back to it with an open invitation to laugh at just how badly wrong this has gone for us.

We’ll begin in goal where we believe Ederson could be given the nod between the posts for the club’s tournament opener, with the Brazilian’s future at Manchester City still in some doubt ahead of the new Premier League season but remaining as Pep Guardiola’s number one.

Having not signed a new right-back prior to the start of the competition, with Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento admired within the club, the likes of Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes are up for consideration for a starting place – and we’ve gone for the latter.

Central defence is once again anyone’s guess, but after a place in the club’s four-man leadership group for the new season, it could be that Ruben Dias starts and captains the side, alongside Abdukodir Khusanov after his reduction in opportunities at the end of last season.

Over on the left side of defence and we’re favouring a full Manchester City debut for natural left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, hoping to impress at the first opportunity for his new side after arriving from Wolves.

We’re going for a three-man midfield and some fluidity between who occupies the deepest role, as Nico starts alongside Ilkay Gundogan – with either of the two handed license to venture forward and compliment attack.

Offering support for either of the two wingers that we can see drifting inside whenever possible, we’re predicting another full debut for Tijjani Reijnders, perhaps largely in his preferred number eight role.

Beginning on the right of a very fluid forward line, we think it could be a trio of full debuts as Rayan Cherki gets his first opportunity to impress and add some much-needed firepower into the front line.

Switching over to the left flank but once again concerning a player that will drift between an attacking midfield and wide position is Omar Marmoush, gearing up for his first full season as a Manchester City player.

That leaves the sole striker role, and while this line-up could be wildly wrong, you would expect Erling Haaland to be one of the safer bets when predicted your eleven for the clash against Wydad AC.

Starting XI: Ederson; Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Ait-Nouri; Nico, Gundogan, Reijnders; Cherki, Haaland, Marmoush.

Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Reis, Akanji, Ake, Stones, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo, Echeverri, Foden, Bobb, Savinho, Doku.