Erling Haaland has been named in Manchester City's starting lineup for tonight's Premier League clash against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Norwegian striker missed 10 games over a two-month period with a foot injury before making his long-awaited comeback as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 win over Burnley last Wednesday.
After revealing at his pre-match press conference that Haaland would be "ready" to start against Brentford, manager Pep Guardiola has decided to recall his No.9 to the first XI, with the Catalan making a total of four changes to the Citizens side that beat Burnley.
Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva also return for Man City, with John Stones, Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku all dropping down to the substitutes' bench.
Walker and Dias join Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol in the back four, while Bernardo is set to link arms with Rodri in centre-midfield.
De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez – who scored a brace against Burnley last time out – will all provide support in attack for Haaland, who is yet to score against Brentford in two previous meetings.
As for Brentford, Thomas Frank has made just one change to the lineup that began the 3-2 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last Wednesday, with Spurs loanee Sergio Reguilon handed his full debut at left wing-back at the expense of Keane Lewis-Potter.
Mads Roerslev will operate on the opposite flank as Ethan Pinnock, Ben Mee and Nathan Collins line up in the back three, protecting goalkeeper Mark Flekken, while Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard and Vitaly Janelt all retain their places in midfield.
Ivan Toney, who has scored twice since returning from his eight-month betting suspension, found the net twice against Man City last season and will be hoping to add to his tally tonight as he leads the line with Neal Maupay.
Brentford: Flekken; Collins, Mee, Pinnock; Roerslev, Janelt, Norgaard, Jensen, Reguilon; Toney, Maupay
Subs: Strakosha, Ajer, Jorgensen, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Baptiste, Yarmolyuk, Fredrick, Brierley
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol; Rodri, Bernardo; De Bruyne, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland
Subs: Ortega, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Doku, Akanji, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis body check tags ::
