Phil Foden returns to the Manchester City starting lineup this afternoon for our FA Cup fifth-round tie at Newport County.

The 18-year-old’s last Blues appearance came in the 5-0 win over Burnley in the previous round. 

Pep Guardiola has made seven changes to the side that beat Chelsea 6-0 last weekend, with only Ederson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, John Stones and Fernandinho retaining their place.

Sergio Aguero isn’t fully fit, and Guardiola has decided to take no risks with him, so Gabriel Jesus leads the attack. The Brazilian has nine goals in his last nine appearances.

Vincent Kompany, Benjamin Mendy, Fabian Delph and Claudio Bravo are also out.

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City

XI: Ederson, Danilo, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Silva, Foden, Mahrez, Sane, Jesus

Subs: Muric, Walker, Sterling, Gundogan, Laporte, De Bruyne, Bernardo

Newport

Tactics

No matter how many changes City make, we rarely deviate from 4-3-3.

Ederson has been outstanding all season and he plays today behind a back four of Danilo, Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Zinchenko. The Ukrainian was superb last week against Chelsea and he will look to pick up where he left off.

Fernandinho, who has played 32 times this term, anchors the midfield, with Foden and David Silva adding guile just ahead of him. 

And Jesus will be supported by Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez in wide positions.

With the Rodney Parade pitch in questionable condition having hosted 60 matches this season (both football and rugby), it will be fascinating to see if City can impose the possession-based game that has served us so well over the past two years.

Match stats

Head-to-head

  • This is the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides.
  • We last met in a League Cup tie in October 1962, which Manchester City won 2-1 in Wales.
  • City have won the three all-time meetings by an aggregate scoreline of 10-2.

Newport County

  • They could become the first club from the fourth tier to reach the quarter-finals since Cambridge United in 1990, and only the fifth to do so overall.
  • This is only Newport’s second appearance in the FA Cup fifth round - their first was a 3-2 defeat by Portsmouth in February 1949.
  • Newport have won just two of their past 11 league games, drawing two and losing seven.
  • They have only conceded two goals in seven home games in all competitions.
  • Padraig Amond has scored five goals in his last eight FA Cup appearances, including in every round this season.

Manchester City

  • City have won all three of their matches in February, scoring 11 goals and conceding just one.
  • They have won their two FA Cup games this season by an aggregate score of 12-0.
  • However, they’ve won just one of their last six FA Cup away games against sides from a lower division (D4, L1), losing their last such game against Wigan.