City have made seven changes for tonight's UEFA Champions League clash with Sevilla.

Stefan Ortega Moreno, Rico Lewis, Ruben Dias, Sergio Gomez, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez all come in with Lewis making his full senior debut.

It’s also a special night for Palmer, who makes his first start in the Champions League.

Download the Man City app

The manager confirmed on Tuesday that Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker would play no part in tonight’s fixture.

Pep Guardiola‘s side are already assured of top spot in Group G with 11 points from our first five matches.

We ran out 4-0 winners against tonight’s opponents in Spain back in September with two goals from Erling Haaland and a strike each from Phil Foden and Ruben Dias.

Teams

CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Dias, Laporte, Gomez, Gundogan (c), Palmer, Foden, Mahrez, Grealish, Alvarez

Subs: Ederson, Carson, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Silva, Wilson-Esbrand

SEVILLA XI: Bounou, Montiel, Carmona, Marcao, Rekik, Acuna, Gomez, Delaney, Rakitic (c), Isco, Rafa Mir

Subs: Dmitrovic, Flores, Telles, Dolberg, Gudelj, Suso, Jordan, Januzaj, Navas, Lamela, Alvarez, Salas

Tactics

Ortega Moreno will be protected by a back four of Lewis, Dias, Laporte and Gomez.

Ahead of them, Gundogan will be the deepest midfielder with four attacking players in the shape of Mahrez, Palmer, Foden and Grealish ahead of him.

Alvarez will lead the line again.

Old head, young shoulders

Still just 17, Rico Lewis is clearly admired by Pep Guardiola.

The right-back has already featured on four occasions for the first team this campaign but this is his first start.

Having captained our Under-18s to Premier League glory last season, it’s been a rapid rise to the first team for the Bury-born defender.

Expect to see another Academy graduate exceptionally comfortable on the ball and positionally astute.

It’s unlikely he will be perturbed by all the grandeur that comes with a UEFA Champions League fixture.

Familiar faces

Former City Academy player Karim Rekik returns to the Etihad Stadium tonight to face the Club he represented between 2011 - 2015 in the formative stage of his career.

We also say welcome back to Jesus Navas, a Premier League champion and two-time League Cup winner with the Blues. He is on the bench for Sevilla tonight.

Match stats

  • Manchester City have won all three of our UEFA Champions League matches against Sevilla, scoring nine goals and conceding just twice.
  • Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has only lost two of his 13 games against Sevilla as a manager (W9 D2), with his teams averaging 2.5 goals per game against them (33 in total). His only home defeat against them came in January 2010, with his Barcelona side losing in the Copa del Rey against Manolo Jiménez’s Sevilla (1-2).
  • Manchester City have won 81% of our home games in the UEFA Champions League since Pep Guardiola took charge of the club (26/32). Among managers with at least 20 home games in charge of a team in the competition, Guardiola’s Man City have the highest home win percentage in the competition’s history.
  • Sevilla’s last win over an English side in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League was in November 2007 - a 3-1 victory over Arsenal, in which Jesús Navas started. Since then, Sevilla are winless in the last seven such games (D3 L4), with the last two both being 0-4 defeats – v Chelsea and Man City.