Lineups are in for Manchester City’s match against Aston Villa, and the biggest story isn’t in either starting XI, but on the bench. Christian Benteke has been named in Aston Villa’s 18-man squad and could make his season debut on Saturday.
Christian Benteke on Aston Villa bench while Manchester City start Dzeko and Aguero
Welcome back, Tekkers!
Chris Brunskill
Villa’s starting lineup is a bit defensive, and makes it clear they’ll try to stifle City in midfield. Kieran Richardson and Charles N’Zogbia are a pretty defensive winger pair on either side of a three-man center, so expect Gabriel Agbonlahor to get isolated up top quite a bit.
City are looking healthy besides the absence of Samir Nasri, giving Manuel Pellegrini plenty of options. He’s gone with Fernandinho over Fernando, James Milner over Jesus Navas and Sergio Aguero over Stevan Jovetic today.
Aston Villa starting lineup (4-3-3): Brad Guzan; Aly Cisshoko, Nathan Baker, Philippe Senderos, Alan Hutton; Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley; Kieran Richardson, Andreas Weimann, Charles N'Zogbia
Manchester City starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Joe Hart; Aleksandar Kolarov, Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta; Fernandinho, Yaya Toure; David Silva, Sergio Aguero, James Milner; Edin Dzeko
Kickoff is at 12:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. local time from Villa Park. You can catch the game on NBC in the USA, Sky Sports 1 in the UK and Sportsnet regional networks in Canada.
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