Trafford to make first City start in Palermo clash | OneFootball

James Trafford will make his maiden City appearance in tonight's Anglo Palermitan Trophy clash with Palermo.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper returned to the Club earlier this summer after progressing through our youth ranks before joining Burnley in 2023.

Erling Haaland will captain a strong-looking side as we take on our CFG sister club in our final outing before the 2025/26 Premier League starts.

22 players travelled to Sicily on Friday, with Guardiola giving an update on Phil Foden and Rodri’s fitness in his pre-match media duties.

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Tonight’s game kicks off at 20:00 (UK) and will be live globally (except Italy) for CITY+ subscribers on mancity.com and our official app.

Use the code ‘PALERMO15’ before midnight tonight to get an annual subscription for just £19.99.

Teams

CITY XI: Trafford, Lewis, Khusanov, Stones, Ait-Nouri, Nico, O’Reilly, Bobb, Cherki, Marmoush, Haaland (C)

Subs: Ederson, Dias, Reijnders, Ake, Doku, Gundogan, Bernardo, Akanji, Savinho, Nunes, Mukasa

PALERMO XI: Gomis, Augello, Gomes, Segre, Brunori (C), Ranocchia, Gyasi, Bani, Pohjanpalo, Diakite, Ceccaroni

Subs: Bardi, Cutrona, Di Bartolo, Palumbo, Vasic, Nicolosi, Avena, Le Douaron, Pierozzi, Blin, Peda, Corona, Squillacioti, Brutto

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Tactics

James Trafford makes his first appearance and will be protected by a defence that looks likely to include Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, John Stones and Rayan Ait-Nouri.

That's a real mix of experience and fresher faces so it will be interesting to see how they gel.

Ahead of them, Nico, Nico O'Reilly and Rayan Cherki will likely patrol the midfield with Oscar Bobb and Omar Marmoush in support of Erling Haaland.

WATCH: WATCH TONIGHT: Palermo v City - Anglo Palermitan Trophy

Anglo Palermitan Trophy

As well as being vital preparation for the return of the Premier League next week, this match is the first ever playing of the Anglo Palermitan Trophy.

It marks a key point in our CFG sister club’s 125th anniversary celebrations.

Therefore, you can expect plenty of entertainment before kick-off, with Italian singer Rose Villain doing a pre-match show in the Renzo Barbera Stadium.

Should the game finish level at full-time, we’ll go straight to penalties to decide who takes the trophy.