Erling Haaland starts as Kalvin Phillips benched - Man City predicted line-up vs Club America

Manchester City will be looking to make a winning start to their pre-season preparations when they lock horns with Club America at the NRG Stadium in Houston in the early hours of Thursday morning, BST.

City, who travelled to the US over the weekend, will be looking to make an ideal start to what promises to be a relatively short pre-season campaign. After facing Club America, they only have one more friendly in the US before travelling back to England, facing Bayern Munich at Lambeau Field this weekend. Although it's only a short pre-season schedule, manager Pep Guardiola will be aiming to use both fixtures to get a feel of his squad and see how they are shaping up ahead of the new campaign.

The Catalan did take a 26-man squad to the US with him, but that is soon expected to reduce to 25, with Oleksandr Zinchenko on the cusp of sealing a move to Arsenal. Nevertheless, he still has plenty of options available to him.

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City's quartet of new signings - Stefan Ortega, Kalvin Phillips, Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez - have all been included in the squad and will be looking to make their debuts for the club against Club America. All eyes will be on Haaland, with the Norwegian having scooped the title of City's headline additionb this summer.

Although all eyes will be on Haaland and the fellow new recruits, Guardiola is likely to go with Ederson between the sticks. The Brazilian played a key role in the club's latest Premier League title tilt last season and will, because of a short pre-season schedule, be in pole position to start. Ortega will get a chance to impress, but it may come via the bench.

The back-four is likely to feature a blend of youth and