City have made five changes from the starting XI that faced Real Madrid in midweek.

In come Jack Grealish, Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan, while Oleks Zinchenko, Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo all drop to the bench.

John Stones misses out through injury, while Kyle Walker remains side-lined.

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Teams

City: Ederson, Cancelo, Ake, Laporte, Dias, Rodrigo, Gundogan (c), Grealish, Foden, Sterling, Jesus

Subs: Steffen, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Egan-Riley, Mbete, McAtee

*Liam Cooper has been replaced by Mateusz Klich after picking up an injury in the warm up.

Formation: 4-3-3

Joao Cancelo will play in his natural right-bac position against Leeds, with the versatile Nathan Ake slotting in at left-back.

Ilkay Gundogan, Rodrigo and either Jack Grealish or Phil Foden will make up the midfield three, with Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus plus Foden or Grealish making up the front three.

Pressure on defending champions

Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Newcastle United means only a victory over Leeds United will see City leap-frog back to the Premier League summit this afternoon.

With Liverpool kicking off earlier than City in four of the five games that remained before today, it is likely to be a scenario that repeats several times before the end of the campaign.

Elland Road is likely to be noisy and intimidating for the visit of City, with the hosts probably two wins from safety.

Jesse Marsch’s side come into this game unbeaten in five Premier League games, but this is a fixture City cannot afford to drop any points in.

Stats

  • Leeds have lost just two of their last nine home league games against City (W6 D1), doing so in consecutive meetings in December 1995 (0-1) and September 2000 (1-2).
  • City are looking to complete a first league double over Leeds since 1981-82, a season that saw the Whites relegated from the top-flight.
  • City won the reverse fixture 7-0 against Leeds – there are three occasions of the Citizens scoring 10+ goals against an opponent within a single Premier League season; Watford in 2019-20 (12), Norwich in 2011-12 (11) and Tottenham in 2013-14 (11).
  • Leeds are winless in their last six home league games against reigning top-flight champions (D2 L4), since beating Arsenal 1-0 in May 1999 and effectively costing the Gunners the title that season.
  • Leeds have conceded at least once in each of their last nine Premier League home games, since a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in November. Only Watford (21) are on a longer run without a home clean sheet among current Premier League sides.
  • Leeds are looking to keep three consecutive Premier League clean sheets for the first time since August 2002, the third game of which back then was a 3-0 home win against City.
  • After a run of seven defeats and one draw in eight Premier League games, Leeds are now unbeaten in their last five. They last went six without defeat in April 2021, a run which included a victory over City.
  • City remain unbeaten away from home in the Premier League since a 1-0loss at Tottenham on the opening weekend (W12 D3 since). The Citizens have kept a clean sheet in each of their last four on the road – they’ve never gone five consecutive away league games without conceding before.
  • City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in eight goals in his last six Premier League appearances, scoring four and assisting four, while teammate Riyad Mahrez has been involved in 12 goals in his last nine starts in the competition (8 goals, 4 assists).
  • Gabriel Jesus’ four goals and one assist against Watford last time out saw the Man City forward overtake Philippe Coutinho into second place (behind only Roberto Firmino) as the Brazilian with the most Premier League goal involvements (86 – 57 goals, 29 assists). He’s been involved in 15 goals in 17 Premier League starts this season (7 goals, 8 assists).