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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Man City team vs Leicester predicted with John Stones replacing Vincent Kompany

Man City compete in their final home game of the season in what could be their last challenging test in the quest to retain their Premier League title.

Though City still have to travel to Brighton - who may still be fighting to avoid relegation - on the final day of the season you wouldn't expect City to have too much trouble there, but Leicester City could be another matter.

The Foxes have improved considerably since they last faced City, despite winning on that occasion, with Brendan Rodgers doing a fine job in the hot seat so far.

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He has won five of his eight games in charge at the King Power and, perhaps most importantly, has got Jamie Vardy playing at his best again.

Vardy is the only player outside of the Premier League top six located in the top five goalscorers this season - having netted 18 times, just two behind Sergio Aguero and one in front of Raheem Sterling - and no player from outside the top six has scored more goals against the top six.

So the speedy striker poses a threat to City and that's why we could see one tactical change by Pep Guardiola from the 1-0 victory over Burnley last week.

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John Stones has been used sparingly in recent weeks but he may well come into an otherwise unchanged defence in place of captain Vincent Kompany, as Stones' superior pace will be much better suited to dealing with Vardy.

The City team could be much of the same, that change aside. With the rest of defence remaining as Ederson, Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte and Aleks Zinchenko.

Kevin De Bruyne has been ruled out of the clash and Fernandinho is a doubt after training on Friday with strapping around his knee. It appears unlikely the Brazilian will be fit so Ilkay Gundogan will likely continue in the holding role with Bernardo Silva and David Silva either side of him.

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In attack, Sterling and Aguero are almost certain to continue but there is a possibility the final attacking role could be switched.

Leroy Sane finally returned to the starting XI at Turf Moor but didn't particularly stand out, perhaps understandably against such a compact Burnley side.

The German would certainly get more attacking freedom against Leicester as the Foxes play with attacking full-backs, but there is a chance Guardiola may be concerned about this and opt for Riyad Mahrez who would do more to pacify the Leicester attacks on the flanks.

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Though it would seem harsh to drop Sane so soon and Mahrez hasn't started since the defeat to Tottenham in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Predicted Man City XI vs Leicester: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Bernardo, Gundogan, Silva; Sterling, Aguero, Sane.

Predicted substitutes: Muric, Danilo, Kompany, Otamendi, Foden, Mahrez, Jesus.

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