City make three changes for visit of Paris Saint-Germain

City make three changes for tonight’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain.

Ruben Dias, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riyad Mahrez all come into the starting line up.

From the side that began against Everton on Sunday, Aymeric Laporte and Cole Palmer revert to the bench while Phil Foden is not fully fit for selection.

Kevin De Bruyne is still unavailable for selection whilst he continues to self-isolate following a positive COVID-19 test.

Jack Grealish is also ruled out as he is still not fuly after returning from the international break with an injury.

As always, we will to have to wait until kick-off for tonight’s with City having the option of going with our tried and trusted 4-3-3 formation, alternatively a 4-4-2 set-up or potentially even playing a back five.

If it is a 4-3-3 base, goalkeeper Ederson, who is targeting a 100th career clean sheet for City, could be shielded by a back four of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones and most likely Joao Cancelo.

Rodrigo is set to be the holding midfielder with Ilkay Gundogan and Oleks Zinchenko, who makes his second start of the season, also potentially in the engine room.

Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez may make up the forward trio but, as always with our flexible quality, kick-off will reveal the exact nature of our tactical approach!

The mathematics and permutations are deliciously simple for City ahead of kick-off.

A point will guarantee that Guardiola’s side secure our ticket through to the last 16.

But a victory over Mauricio Pochettino’s star-studded side would secure us first place in Group A with a game to spare.

So there’s no lack motivation ahead of one of the most eagerly-awaited games of the season.
• Manchester City went unbeaten in their first five meetings with Paris Saint-Germain in European competition (W3 D2), but suffered a 2-0 defeat in their most recent meeting back in September.
• However, City have won both of their games against the French side on home soil in the UEFA Champions League – 1-0 in April 2016 and 2-0 in May 2021.
• Manchester City failed to score in their last meeting with Paris Saint-Germain (0-2 in September); the first time they hadn’t found the net against a French side in European competition since December 2008, when they drew 0-0 with PSG in the UEFA Cup. They had netted 23 times in 11 games in between these two, averaging 2.1 goals per game.
• Paris Saint-Germain have only won 20% of their meetings with Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League (1/5). Among teams they have faced at least five times in the competition, only against Real Madrid (17% - 1/6) do they have a lower win percentage.
• Only Bayern Munich (17) have scored more goals than Manchester City (15) in the UEFA Champions League so far this season. City are averaging 3.4 expected goals (xG) per game in the competition this term; since the start of 2013-14, this is the highest per game average by a team in the group stage in a single UEFA Champions League campaign.
• Manchester City have scored 15 goals in their four UEFA Champions League games this season (3.75 per game), with 10 of those coming at the Etihad. However, they did fail to score against PSG in the reverse fixture in Paris.
• Manchester City have won 15 and lost none of their last 16 home games in the UEFA Champions League (D1), since a 2-1 defeat to Lyon in September 2018.
• City have scored in each of their last 27 home games in all European competition, scoring 76 goals in the process (2.8 per game), since a 0-0 draw with Real Madrid in April 2016.
• Jack Grealish has created more chances than any other Manchester City player (11) in the UEFA Champions League. Eight of these chances have been created following a ball carry (moving 5+ metres with the ball), which is the most of any player in the competition this season.
• João Cancelo has been directly involved in five goals in his last four UEFA Champions League appearances for Manchester City (two goals and three assists), including a hat-trick of assists in his last game versus Club Brugge.
• Ederson’s next clean sheet will be his 100th for the Club.
• After winning only one of their first 10 away games against English opponents in European competition (D4 L5), Paris Saint-Germain have won two of their last three away games against English sides (L1), with both of those victories coming in Manchester – 2-0 in February 2019 and 3-1 in December 2020 against Manchester United.
• Paris Saint-Germain are winless in their last three away games in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L1), and could go without an away victory in the group stage of the competition in a single season for the first time since 2004-05.
• PSG’s Lionel Messi has scored seven goals in seven UEFA Champions League appearances against Manchester City; the second-most by a player against an English club in the competition, after Messi’s haul of nine goals in six appearances against Arsenal.
• PSG forward Kylian Mbappé could be in line to make his 50th appearance in the UEFA Champions League in this game (currently on 49). Should he do so, he will become the second-youngest outfield player to reach 50 appearances in the competition (22y 339d), behind Cesc Fàbregas in March 2010 (22y 331d).
• PSG have only lost two of their last 21 group stage games in the UEFA Champions League (W14 D5), going unbeaten in each of the last seven such matches (W5 D2).