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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Simon Bajkowski

Man City team vs Norwich as John Stones starts and De Bruyne on bench

John Stones starts for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola's team take on Norwich but Kevin De Bruyne only makes the bench.

The England international has been absence since the opening weekend with a thigh injury, but has recovered enough over the international break to go straight into the team at Carrow Road.

Stones is more needed than he has ever been with Aymeric Laporte out injured, and the City manager will hope that tonight's pairing of Stones and Nicolas Otamendi can step up in the Frenchman's absence. Aleks Zinchenko and Kyle Walker join them in the defence.

De Bruyne only makes the bench, with Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva making up the midfield. It is a familiar attack as Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva line up behind Sergio Aguero. Gabriel Jesus, who has missed the last two games with injury, makes the bench - as does Ilkay Gundogan, who withdrew from the Germany squad with illness.

Joao Cancelo, Claudio Bravo, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Fernandinho make up the rest of the bench.

Liverpool's 3-1 win over Newcastle at lunchtime means that the Blues cannot go to the top of the Premier League table even with a win tonight but Guardiola will be looking for a big performance ahead of a busy few weeks. They head to Kharkiv on Monday for their Champions League game with Shakhtar Donetsk before a Premier League game with Watford and a Carabao Cup tie at Preston.

CITY XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko, Rodri, Gundogan, Silva, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero Subs: Bravo, Cancelo, Fernandinho, Foden, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Jesus

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