De Bruyne returns as City make one change | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne will start against Leicester City as Pep Guardiola makes one change from the team selected against Everton.

Jeremy Doku makes way for the skipper, while Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish are named as substitutes for the King Power Stadium clash against a Foxes side who have lost their last three matches.

Teams

CITY: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Kovacic, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Savinho, Foden, Haaland

Subs: Carson, Walker, Grealish, Doku, Gundogan, Simpson-Pusey, Mubama, O'Reilly, McAtee

LEICESTER CITY: To follow...

WATCH: Watch: Memorable City moments against Leicester

Formation/tactics

It's pretty much as you were for the Boxing Day fixture with Everton.

Stefan Ortega Moreno continues in goal, with Rico Lewis at right-back and Josko Gvardiol at left-back.

Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake will be our central defenders, with Mateo Kovacic sitting in front as our deep lying midfielder.

De Bruyne will be partnered in central midfield by Bernardo, with Phil Foden and Savinho wide attackers and Erling Haaland in the centre.

Bernardo and Foden could interchange throughout.

Blues go again

City will desperately look to end a run of results nobody could have envisaged a few months back.

Our well-documented run of one win in 13 matches means the Premier League champions have fallen 14 points behind leaders Liverpool as we hit the halfway point of the campaign at the King Power Stadium this afternoon.

City have been hit by an unprecedented number of injuries this campaign, with many players carrying minor, reoccurring knocks.

And the Blues have hardly had the rub of the green along the way, compounding our lack of form.

Guardiola is working hard to find a solution that will spark his team back to their best, and it could be one convincing victory will do the trick.

The players are also working hard to get back to winning ways and a victory over Leicester would be the perfect end to 2024.

Equally, the Foxes need a positive result themselves after slipping into the bottom three, making this another tricky fixture on the road.

WATCH: Watch: Pep reaches 500 games as City boss

Stats, facts and milestones

Leicester have lost 11 of their last 13 Premier League meetings with Manchester City (W2), while they haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 15 against the Blues (W4 L11).

Manchester City have won our last four Premier League away games against Leicester without conceding a single goal. In our league history, we’ve never won five in a row away against an opponent while keeping a clean sheet each time.

Manchester City have won 19 of their last 20 Premier League games against promoted sides (D1), including each of the last 10 in a row. We last had a longer such winning run between December 2009 and December 2011 (12).

Leicester have only lost their final league game in one of the last five calendar years (W3 D1), going down 2-1 at Liverpool in 2022. This is the first time they’re facing the reigning top-flight champions in such a match since 1974, and 2-0 home defeat to Leeds United.

Manchester City have only lost their final league game in one of the last 23 calendar years (W12 D10), going down 1-0 at Liverpool in 2016.

Leicester have lost 4-0, 3-0 and 3-1 in their last three Premier League games. They’ve not lost four in a row while conceding multiple goals each time since a run of five in September/October 2003.

Manchester City have dropped 12 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, already more than we did in the whole of 2023-24 (10). Indeed, under Pep Guardiola they’ve only lost more such points in 2020-21 and 2022-23 (both 13).

Manchester City have lost seven of our last eight away games in all competitions (D1), having been unbeaten in 21 on the road before this. It’s our longest run without an away win since a run of 10 between January and April 2011.

This will be Pep Guardiola’s 500th match in charge of Manchester City in all competitions, just the second manager to reach that milestone for the club after Les McDowall (592). The Spaniard won his 100th, 200th and 300th game in charge of the Citizens, and drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich in his 400th.

As a player, Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy lost three of his six Premier League games against Manchester City (W1 D2), his highest loss rate against any side he faced more than twice in the competition (50%).