Man City: Predicted lineup vs Newcastle as Haaland ruled out

The Citizens will have to play another game without their star striker.

Manchester City will not have Erling Haaland at their disposal when they face Newcastle on Saturday.

The Citizens have played without the striker for the past matches after he suffered a foot injury. Haaland’s return to training was a major squad boss to Pep Guardiola’s side before their crushing win over Huddersfield in the FA Cup. However, the Norwegian is not fit to make his return this weekend.

“Erling Haaland is out and John [Stones] is out,” Guardiola confirmed on Friday, adding that Jack Grealish will most likely be available for the game.

City will also have Kevin De Bruyne back in their squad after his cameo against Huddersfield. Guardiola confirmed the Belgian midfielder is ready to return to City’s starting lineup at St. James’ Park.

“I feel really, from what I saw yesterday, I feel really good, dynamic, the minutes he played was really, really good, better than the training sessions before the Huddersfield game,” Guardiola added on De Bruyne’s recovery.

Who will start vs Newcastle?

With De Bruyne being back in the lineup, he is expected to start alongside Rodri in midfield. Given Phil Foden‘s incredible form in recent weeks, we expect the English forward to form City’s attacking line alongside Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, and Julian Alvarez.

Man City (predicted XI vs Newcastle): Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Doku, Foden, Alvarez.