Manchester City vs Celtic preview: Guardiola expected to rotate heavily against Bhoys

By Ric Turner, Tue 06 December 2016 10:54


Manchester City vs Celtic preview: Guardiola expected to rotate heavily against BhoysVincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling injured for final group game, whilst Fernandinho is suspended

Manchester City vs Celtic

Competition: UEFA Champions League, Group Stage

Date: 7.45pm, Tuesday 6th December 2016

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Slavko Vincic (SVN) Assistants:Bojan Ul (SVN), Tomaž Klancnik (SVN) Fourth Official: Jure Praprotnik (SVN)

Odds: City 1/3, Draw 9/2, Celtic 8/1

Tickets: On sale via www.mcfc.co.uk

TV: BT Sport

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Bravo, Caballero, O'Brien, Adarabioyo, Angelino, Clichy, Kolarov, Maffeo, Otamendi, Sagna, Stones, Zabaleta, Delph, De Bruyne, Fernando, Gundogan, Navas, Nolito, Sane, Silva, Aguero, Iheanacho

Injured: Sterling, Kompany

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Fernandinho

Form guide: LWDWD

Celtic

Manager: Brendan Rodgers

Squad (from): Gordon, de Vries, Toure, Izaguirre, Simunovic, Boyata, Lustig, Sviatchenko, Bitton, Brown, Sinclair, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven, Rogic, McGregor, Forrest, Ciftci, Griffiths, Dembele, Christie, Roberts

Injured: Sinclair

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WLWWD

Vincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling both miss out through injury, whilst Fernandinho is suspended after being red carded in the 1-1 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach. Manager Pep Guardiola is likely to rotate his squad heavily as the Blues have already qualified for the knock oit stages of the competition.

“There will be changes tomorrow, definitely,” he said. “I am so happy to give minutes to people who deserve to play and who did not play in the last games.

“If Sergio is going to play or not, I am going to decide today or tomorrow. I don’t know at the moment.”

“I like all the players to play,” he said. “I would like more substitutions, four or five or six, to create a new dynamic.

“If we play one game a week, I would rotate fewer. Always I did rotate and always I will do it.”

Predicted line-up: Caballero, Zabaleta, Adarabioyo, Otamendi, Clichy, Fernando, Delph, Gundogan, Sane, Nolito, Iheanacho

Score prediction: City 2 Celtic 1