Rodri comes in for Ilkay Gundogan at the base of midfield, and Oleksandr Zinchenko replaces Angelino at left-back as the manager makes two changes to the side that started against Kitchee in Hong Kong.
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City team
XI: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Rodri, Silva, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Sane, Sterling
Subs: Grimshaw, Danilo, Gundogan, Angelino, Nmecha, Foden, Touaizi, Bazunu, Pozo, Doyle, Bolton, Garcia, Harwood-Bellis, Bernabe, Poveda, Diounkou, Knight
Yokohama team
XI: Park, Theerathon, Thiago Martins, Hirose, Hatanaka, Ohgihara, Kida, Endo, Miyoshi, Marcos Junior, Nakagawa
Subs: Ilkura, Sugimoto, Dusan, Ito, Matsubara, Wada, Yamada, Nakagawa, Tsubaki, Izumisawa, Otsu, Yamaya
City tactics
It’s 4-3-3 for City as usual, with what looks like our strongest available back four of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Oleksandr Zinchenko in front of Claudio Bravo in goal.
Rodri will sit deep, with Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva just ahead of him. That’s a midfield three with a fine mix of attributes.
And Raheem Sterling will once again play through the middle, with Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva in support.
Guardiola believes there is synergy in the way the two sides play: expansive, attacking and possession-based. That should provide us with an entertaining spectacle and, as Pep said yesterday in his pre-match press conference, the perfect preparation for our Community Shield game against Liverpool.
Pep on Yokohama…
“In nine days, we have the Community Shield against Liverpool and having watched Yokohama videos this could be the best game we could play because of the way they play,” he said.
“City and Yokohama have similar philosophies. It’s a pleasure to be in Japan again and hopefully the fans enjoy the football.
“Both teams want the ball and both teams want to play. Both teams want to attack and score and when that happens, football is magnificent.”
