Man City get injury boost ahead of Crystal Palace game

straight to your inboxAymeric Laporte insists he has happy at Manchester City but has hinted he might look to assess his future at the club if his playing time does not increase.Laporte has struggled with injury in different spells this season, while he also missed some games after isolating for Covid-19. Since being dropped after defeat at Tottenham, the Frenchman has struggled to disrupt the partnership of John Stones and Ruben Dias as City have gone 19 games unbeaten in all competitions.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has named a strong Manchester City side to face Burnley, with Aymeric Laporte picked at left-back. After Manchester United earned a record-equalling win last night, they moved level on points with City at the top of the Premier League, albeit having played two games more.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola hailed the importance of Ruben Dias as he encouraged other defenders in the squad to learn from the summer signing.The 23-year-old from Benfica has had an unbelievable impact since joining for a club record fee at the end of September, with the team conceding just one goal more (seven) in the 18 Premier League games he has played in than in the two that he did not (one against Wolves and five against Leicester).Such a reversal has inevitably led to comparisons

straight to your inboxSeeing – and hearing – Ruben Dias in action has Gareth Barry harking back to his early days in the Manchester City dressing room.The former Blues midfielder was brought to the club in 2010 as an experienced 28-year-old who had played at a high level for Aston Villa for ten years, playing nearly 450 games.But it was a 23-year-old Vincent Kompany who startled Barry, whose own experience was a key reason City stumped up a bargain £12million for the England international.Both

straight to your inboxGary Neville has warned Manchester City that Liverpool could ride a similar wave of momentum to themselves following back-to-back Premier League wins.Pep Guardiola's side have risen to the top of the table after a run of 12 matches unbeaten, including nine victories. City's defensive record has been impressive too, with John Stones and Ruben Dias forming a fantastic partnership at centre-back, which has seen only two goals conceded during that run.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola praised the fight of his Manchester City players as they defended as a unit to keep out Sheffield United. Ruben Dias led the defence superbly from the back to pick up another clean sheet that laid the platform for yet another Premier League victory for the Blues.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola’s patience with his defence ran out in the defeat at Tottenham – and his axing of Aymeric Laporte has sent a powerful message to the rest of his squad.The Manchester City manager insisted this week that he has been delighted with the way his rearguard has reacted to last season’s traumas, buoyed by impressive new signing Ruben Dias and the revitalised John StonesAfter seeing his side rack up their 11th clean sheet from 19 Premier League games as they blitzed

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has pinpointed the chemistry between Ruben Dias and John Stones, as well as their ability to cut out mistakes from last season, as the main reason behind their brilliant partnership at Manchester City.Guardiola was reflecting on City's season to date, with half of their fixtures completed in the Premier League. City are top of the table, recovering well from a poor start to go seventeen games unbeaten in all competitions.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola will remind Manchester City players of the need to play to the whistle after they benefited from West Brom failing to do so themselves. With the Blues already 1-0 up, a number of West Brom players stopped when they saw an offside flag for Bernardo Silva, only for Joao Cancelo to put the ball in the net and the original decision be overturned on replays.

straight to your inboxManchester City could go to the top of the Premier League with a win against West Brom on Tuesday, albeit temporarily, with rivals Manchester United in action on Wednesday.City will be without Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker for the trip to The Hawthorns this midweek, with Ruben Dias and John Stones set to start once again in the centre of City's defence.Bernardo Silva should drop into midfield alongside Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri, whilst Phil

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola felt that Manchester City needed more quality in the final third as they trailed Cheltenham Town in the FA Cup. The Blues were staring at the biggest upset of the manager's five years at the club when Alfie May stabbed home from a Ben Tozer long throw on the hour-mark, leading to first-team regulars Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo all being brought off the bench for the closing moments.

straight to your inboxRuben Dias has hailed his connection with John Stones at the centre of Man City's defence.The duo have formed a solid partnership at the back, which has provided the bedrock for Pep Guardiola's side to regain their attacking vigour going forward. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dias was full of praise for his centre-back partner but argued that City's defensive record recently is not just down to the two of them.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has told Aymeric Laporte what he needs to do to break up the partnership between John Stones and Ruben Dias. Laporte was sorely missed last season as Manchester City's title defence crumbled while he was out with a long-term injury, but the Frenchman has barely been used in recent months.

straight to your inboxManchester City are the form team in the Premier League after racking up their fifth consecutive win. And if their 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace was the continuation of their strong rhythm, it also showed a new quality.

straight to your inboxJohn Stones has revealed how he revamped every aspect of his game in a bid to resurrect his Manchester City career.And the England defender says that his exciting new partnership with Ruben Dias has been the other key factor in his spectacular return to form.Stones scored twice in the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace, but more importantly, the clean sheet made it one goal against that pair in their last ten games together.Talk of Stones and Dias being one of the great Premier

straight to your inboxJohn Stones has opened up about his Manchester City transformation - and revealed how Micah Richards helped him.Stones has come in from the cold to form a blossoming central defensive partnership with Ruben Dias in Pep Guardiola's side. The pair kept another clean sheet as City beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday night.

straight to your inboxManchester City will be hoping to continue their winning run in the Premier League this weekend, as they face Crystal Palace on Sunday.City have won their last four league games which has seen them move up into third, with Pep Guardiola's side also having a game in hand over both Liverpool and Manchester United at the top of the table.Gabriel Jesus and Ferran Torres are available once again for City this weekend, but Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Eric

straight to your inboxGabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker could return to the starting XI this weekend as Manchester City take on Crystal Palace.While all attention will be on Anfield on Sunday as the Premier League's top two battle it out, City could move up to second place themselves with a win, depending on the result on Merseyside.Much has been made of the growing title race between Liverpool and Manchester United while City have quietly got back to their best in recent weeks and, with a game in

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola may be refusing to look publicly beyond the next game but Manchester City are building a title challenge.A hard-fought 1-0 win over Brighton on Wednesday night was their fourth consecutive Premier League victory and lifted them into the top four for the first time this season; they sit a point behind Liverpool and four behind United but have a game in hand on the teams above them, who also play each other at the weekend.City's manager is insistent that the

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola was able to rest some of Manchester City's key players against Birmingham, and his second half substitutions could indicate who is in line to start against Brighton on Wednesday.Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan and Oleks Zinchenko were rested completely, while Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne all played 45 minutes in City's straightforward FA Cup win at the weekend.