The Norwegian striker was last named in the XI for the defeat to Aston Villa early in December before a stress reaction in his foot ruled him out for almost two months.
He made his comeback as a substitute during last week’s victory over Burnley but will play from the start at the Gtech Community Stadium this evening.
Brentford v City | Live Premier League updates
Also called into the team from that game are Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva.
John Stones, Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku make way and will be on the bench after playing in that 3-1 win last Wednesday.
There’s more positive news on the bench as Manuel Akanji returns after missing the last three matches through injury.
We are looking to extend our excellent recent run of form, having won all eight matches since the December draw with Crystal Palace.
Victory here would leave us two points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.
Teams
CITY XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Alvarez, Foden, Haaland
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Doku, Akanji, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis
BRENTFORD XI: Flekken, Pinnock, Norgaard (c), Maupay, Jensen, Reguilon, Mee, Toney, Collins, Janelt, Roerslev
Subs: Strakosha, Zanka, Ajer, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Baptiste, Yarmoliuk, Birerley, Fredrick
Tactics
Captain Kyle Walker will be on the right of the defence protecting Ederson‘s goal, with Josko Gvardiol likely to be on the left. Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias will be through the middle.
In midfield, Rodrigo and Bernardo Silva are likely to be the deepest players with Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden buzzing around in front of them in support of Erling Haaland, who will lead the line.
Haaland’s here
Erling Haaland missed 10 games in total due to the stress reaction in his foot - five of which were in the Premier League. That he remains joint-top in the race in the Golden Boot shows the pace our man was setting earlier in the campaign.
Having broken almost every conceivable record in the league’s 31 previous seasons during the 2022/23 term, he will be looking to hit the ground running again now he’s back in the starting XI.
Our No.9 was understandably not at his razor sharp best during his cameo against Burnley last week but having had several more training sessions since then, he’ll be a lot more prepared for this fixture.
Brentford are the only team he has faced in the Premier League that he hasn’t scored against, netting against 20 of his 21 opponents so far. However, this is only his second appearance against the Bees.
Match stats
● Pep Guardiola has never lost three consecutive top-flight meetings with an opponent before, something Brentford could achieve in this match.
● City have lost two of their last four Premier League away games against London sides (W1 D1), as many as they had in their previous 16 trips to the capital (W12 D2).
● City have won our last three Premier League away games despite having trailed in each of them. Only Manchester United have ever won four consecutive away games despite falling behind in them all in the competition, doing so in six in a row between September and December 2020.
● Brentford have dropped a league-high 23 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season – it’s as many such points as they’d lost in their previous two campaigns in the competition combined (8 in 2021-22, 15 last season).
● Brentford haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 11 Premier League games, losing eight of their last 10 in the competition (W2). They’ve conceded at least twice in each of their last five, last doing so in more consecutive league games between March and May 2007 (8).
● Despite playing just 199 minutes across six appearances in all competitions this season, Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in five goals (1 goal, 4 assists), averaging a goal involvement every 40 minutes so far this term.
● Erling Haaland has scored against 20 of the 21 sides he’s faced in the Premier League with the only exception being Brentford. Among players to face at least three teams, only Harry Kane has scored against every opponent he’s faced (32/32).
