Jack Grealish makes his home debut, while Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo, Rodrigo, Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker all return.
Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones are not fully fit.
Making way are Raheem Sterling, Benjamin Mendy, Nathan Ake, Riyad Mahrez and Fernandinho.
Team news
City: Ederson, Walker, Laporte, Dias, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan (c), Grealish, Bernardo, Torrres, Jesus
Subs: Steffen, Ake, Sterling, Zinchenko, Mendy, Mahrez, Fernandinho, Doyle, Palmer
Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis, Lees-Melou, Gilmour, Rupp, Cantwell, Pukki, Rashica,
Subs Dowell, Tzolis, Sørensen, McLean, Sargent, Mumba, Gunn, Idah, Omobamidele
FORMATION
Hard to see past City playing 4-3-3 given the personnel selected.
Walker and Cancelo will play at right-back and left-back respectively with Laporte and Dias in the centre.
Rodrigo will protect the back four with Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan our attacking midfielders.
Bernardo and Ferran Torres are likely to take up wider roles with Jesus in the middle.
CITY LOOK TO KICK-START THE CAMPAIGN
It’s probably been a long week for the City players after last weekend’s defeat.
It is a rare occurrence that this City side don’t start the campaign with a win, so that comforting three points were absent after defeat to Spurs.
A home game against newly-promoted Norwich won’t be without its dangers, but the defending champions must look for a convincing home win to get the new season off and running.
The Canaries will look to cause an upset, but this is a fixture City traditionally do well in.
FACTS & STATS
City have won their last three home Premier League games against Norwich City by an aggregate score of 14-1, winning 5-0 in the most recent league meeting at the Etihad in July 2020.
In all competitions, Norwich have won just two of their last 31 visits to City (D7 L22), winning 2-1 in September 1997 and 3-2 in May 2013.
The reigning champions have lost just two of their last 58 home Premier League games against newly promoted teams (W48 D8), although Liverpool did so in the last such match against Fulham in March last season.
Only one of the last 39 reigning top-flight champions have lost their first home league match of the season (W29 D9), with Chelsea losing 3-2 to Burnley in 2017-18.
City lost three of their final five home Premier League games in the 2020-21 season (W2), and also lost their first home league match last season 5-2 against Leicester City.
The Blues haven’t lost their opening home league match in consecutive seasons since losing against Oldham Athletic in 1988-89 and Southampton in 1989-90.
In the Premier League era, the winners of the previous season’s second tier title have won away from home against the reigning top-flight champions only once (W1 D4 L24), with Bournemouth defeating Chelsea 1-0 in the 2015-16 season with a goal from Glenn Murray.
City won all four of their 3pm Saturday Premier League games last season by an aggregate score of 9-0. Under Pep Guardiola, City have won 2.7 points-per-game in the Premier League in games played at 3pm on Saturday (P30 W26 D3 L1).
City have lost their last 11 Premier League matches, with only Sunderland (20 between 2003 and 2005) ever having a longer losing run in the competition. The Canaries have failed to score in 10 of these 11 games, with their only goal coming in a 2-1 loss at Watford.
City have lost their last three matches in all competitions without scoring a single goal. In his entire managerial career, Pep Guardiola has never lost four consecutive games, nor seen his sides go four games in a row without scoring. Meanwhile, the last time Man City lost four consecutive games was August 2006, and the last time they lost four without reply was March 1986.
City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been directly involved in five goals in four appearances against Norwich in all competitions (3 goals, 2 assists), scoring or assisting every 45 minutes against the Canaries. De Bruyne has scored four goals and assisted a further seven in his last eight Premier League appearances against newly promoted teams.
Since the start of 2019-20, Jack Grealish has been fouled 282 times in the Premier League, 68 times more than any other player. The midfielder won more fouls than any other player on his Man City Premier League debut against Tottenham last time out (5).
