Leroy Sane has made his long-awaited return to the Manchester City first team after being named as a substitute against Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola has a fully-fit squad to choose from for the first time this season with Sane finally recovered from the knee-ligament injury that had kept him on the sidelines for the entire campaign.
The German has been named amongst the substitutes, the number of which has been increased to nine for the rest of the season to coincide with the number of changes a manager can make being raised to five.
Aymeric Laporte has also made a return to the starting line-up after his own injury torment and he will be partnered with youngster Eric Garcia, who is making just his third Premier League start for the Blues.
Elsewhere the team is strong and typical of Guardiola, with only Gabriel Jesus starting ahead of Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan playing in the holding-midfield role rather than Fernandinho or Rodri the surprising selection decisions.
However, there's no sign of John Stones, Joao Cancelo or Claudio Bravo in the 20-man strong squad.
City haven't played a competitive fixture since they lost 2-0 to rivals Manchester United on March 8 after the coronavirus pandemic forced football into a suspension which has lasted over three months.
Aston Villa and Sheffield United got the Premier League's restart underway with the day's earlier kick-off and City will follow up as they finally take on former assistant-manager Mikel Artera's Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
Man City starting XI vs Arsenal: Ederson; Walker, Garcia, Laporte, Mendy; De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling.
Substitutes: Carson, Aguero, Zinchenko, Rodri, Sane, Bernardo, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Foden.
