After making wholesale changes to his starting line-up in the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea last weekend, Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is expected to name his strongest side against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday.
Manchester City have an extremely challenging fixture schedule ahead of them, with a Capital One Cup final against Liverpool to follow Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 first-leg meeting with Dynamo Kiev.
However, manager Manuel Pellegrini intends to name his strongest starting eleven for Wednesday’s game.
Speaking at his press-conference ahead of the match, the Chilean is quoted by the official Manchester City website as saying: “We had to make a difficult decision against Chelsea but it was the only choice we could make in this moment. We had just 13 players so it was our intention to continue in all competitions and we couldn’t do that.
“This is absolutely different – we will try to continue knowing we have a difficult game tomorrow.”
Pellegrini also revealed that centre-back Eliaquim Mangala is available once again for Manchester City. “We have similar squad that we played in the last Premier League game,” added the 62-year-old. “The only player that has recovered is Mangala.”
Meanwhile, according to the club website, France right-back Bacary Sagna trained with the squad in Ukraine ahead of the game. With Pablo Zabaleta fit and ready, however, it is unlikely that Pellegrini will risk the former Arsenal man on Wednesday.
Manchester City are expected to make nine changes to the team that lost 5-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, with Joe Hart returning in goal, Vincent Kompany and Nicolás Otamendi pairing up at the centre of the Citizens’ defence, Gaël Clichy replacing Aleksandar Kolarov at left-back, and Fernandinho, Yaya Touré, Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Sergio Agüero all expected to return in midfield and attack.
