Man City lineups, starting 11 for 2023/24 season: Who will Pep Guardiola start this season?

2023-08-11
6 min read
Getty Images

Manchester City will be looking to defend all three trophies from their incredible 2022/23 campaign as the new season is close to getting underway.

The Citizens won their first-ever Champions League title with a win over Inter Milan in Istanbul, while they also beat rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final. 

Pep Guardiola's side secured a third-straight Premier League trophy too as they were able to finish above Arsenal in the title race. They will face the Gunners in the FA Community Shield five days before their league opener against Burnley.

The Sporting News looks at how Man City could lineup for the 2023/24 season as they look to repeat an impressive achievement.

MORE: Premier League fixtures 2023/24: Complete schedule

Man City preseason lineups, results

Man City played three preseason friendlies during their tour of Asia this summer. They faced Yokohama Marinos and Bayern Munich in Japan, before ending their tour with a fixture against Atletico Madrid in South Korea.

Despite going 2-0 down to Yokohama in their first game, they managed to turn the match around to win 5-3. Erling Haaland scored twice while John Stones, Julian Alvarez and Rodri joined him on the scoresheet.

Man City starting lineup vs Yokohama Marinos (4-2-3-1): Ortega - Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake - Phillips, Kovacic - McAtee, Palmer, Grealish - Alvarez

Guardiola played a stronger lineup from the start against Bayern, with new signing Mateo Kovacic partnering Rico Lewis in midfield. They won 2-1 thanks to a late winner from Aymeric Laporte.

Man City starting lineup vs Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Ederson - Walker, Stones, Dias, Ake - Lewis, Kovacic - Silva, McAtee, Grealish - Alvarez

In the Citizens' 2-1 defeat to Atletico in their final game of preseason, Haaland and Alvarez started together in the frontline. City were the more dominant side but could not find their way past Jan Oblak, who made four saves in the first half.

Man City starting lineup vs Atletico Madrid (4-1-3-2): Ederson - Walker, Stones, Dias, Laporte - Rodri - Foden, Silva, Grealish - Haaland, Alvarez

We got a final taste of how Guardiola could line up his side for City's opener against Burnley on August 11 with the below showing in their penalty shootout defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield. Ederson will be an obvious starter ahead of Ortega in goal for their league match.

Scroll to Continue with Content

Man City starting lineup vs Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Ortega (GK) – Walker, Dias, Stones, Akanji – Kovacic, Rodri – Silva, Grealish, Alvarez – Haaland

Man City 2023/24 predicted lineup

Kevin De Bruyne didn't feature for Man City in pre-season following his injury in the Champions League final. He was named on the bench in all three games in preseason, but was not able to get any minutes. He did come off the bench to play in the Community Shield though.

Nathan Ake was left on the bench in City's final match of their Asia tour after an injury scare against Bayern. Joao Cancelo featured in all three matches, but it seems like a move to Barcelona is on for the defender.

Josko Gvardiol has secured a move to the Etihad Stadium from RB Leipzig and could be drafted in tonight with reports Ruben Dias could be carrying an injury. He could also play at left-back for City, operating in a similar fashion to Ake and Manuel Akanji. 

Here is how Man City could lineup for the 2023/24 season following their three preseason games and the Community Shield:

Man City predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Ederson  — Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol  — Rodri, Silva  — Foden, De Bruyne, Grealish  — Haaland

MORE: Most expensive defender in world football history: Where will Gvardiol rank?

Premier League 2023/24 TV channels, live streams

Region TV Streaming
Australia Optus Sport
Canada

Fubo Canada

Hong Kong Now TV
India Star Sports Disney+, Hotstar,
JioTV
Malaysia Astro SuperSport Astro Go
New Zealand Sky Sport Sky Sport Now,
Sky Go
Singapore StarHub StarHub TV+
UK Sky Sports, TNT Sports NOW TV, Sky Go,
Amazon Prime
USA USA Network,
Telemundo, Universo
Fubo, Peacock

UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and TNT Sports streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.

USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on Fubo. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.

Canada: Every Premier League game this season is live streamed exclusively via Fubo in Canada.

Australia: Fans in Australia can stream every match live and on demand on Optus Sport.

India: Star Sports network has the rights to show Premier League matches in India. As well as an English broadcast on Star Sports Select, select matches will be available via regional feeds on Star Sports 3 (in Bengali, English, Kannada, Malayalam), Star Sports 1 (Bangla) and Star Sports 1 (Tamil).