{"id":20465,"date":"2026-01-03T04:26:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/03\/doku-and-gvardiol-to-start-4-3-3-manchester-city-predicted-lineup-vs-chelsea\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T04:26:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:26:55","slug":"doku-and-gvardiol-to-start-4-3-3-manchester-city-predicted-lineup-vs-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2026\/01\/03\/doku-and-gvardiol-to-start-4-3-3-manchester-city-predicted-lineup-vs-chelsea\/","title":{"rendered":"Doku And Gvardiol To Start | 4-3-3 Manchester City Predicted Lineup Vs Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Manchester City will entertain Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday as they hoped to secure all three points at home in the Premier League. The Mancunian club were held to a lackluster 0-0 draw away at Sunderland recently, so they would be keen on returning to winning ways this weekend.<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola will set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation and is expected to make some changes to his first XI for this game. Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol could both play from the start of this clash.<\/p>\n

Defence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Gianluigi Donnarumma will play in between the sticks for the Mancunian club after he kept a clean sheet in his last appearance. Ruben Dias will function alongside Josko Gvardiol at the centre of the Man City<\/a> backline as they look to keep a solid shape defensively throughout the 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Matheus Nunes will try to prove his worth as the right-back, while Nico O\u2019Reilly looks to catch the eye on the other side as the left-back. Both of them will be instructed to pick and choose their moments to join in on the attack.<\/p>\n

Nathan Ake will offer cover for the defensive positions on the bench.<\/p>\n

\"Manchester
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND \u2013 JANUARY 01: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, looks on prior to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Manchester City at Stadium of Light on January 01, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by George Wood\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midfield<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Phil Foden, Nico Gonzalez and Bernardo Silva will make up Man City\u2019s attack as they look to establish their superiority over the opposition at the centre of the park.<\/p>\n

Tijjani Reijnders will have to be content with a place on the bench as he awaits his chance to influence the game in the second 45 minutes if required.<\/p>\n

Attack<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jeremy Doku will hope to put his pace to good use on the left flank, while Rayan Cherki hopes to make a difference from the right wing. Both of them will hope to get in behind the opponent\u2019s backline at every chance they can get.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland will lead the charge for Man City down the middle. He has to figure out a way to be a constant menace in and around the Chelsea penalty area.<\/p>\n

Reigan Heskey will make up the numbers on the bench and might come on to make an impact in the latter stages of the game if Man City are in need of a goal by then.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester City will entertain Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday as they hoped to secure all three points at home in the Premier League. The Mancunian club were held to a lackluster 0-0 draw away at Sunderland recently, so they would be keen on returning to winning ways this weekend. Pep Guardiola will set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12815,"featured_media":20466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}