How Man City should line up vs Watford in Premier League

Manchester City are waiting on positive injury news regarding Nathan Ake and John Stones for their Premier League fixure with Watford, but Kyle Walker will miss out.

Ake and Stones limped out of the win over Brighton, while Walker has been missing for three games since suffering an ankle injury against Atletico Madrid. With Real Madrid visiting the Etihad next week, City's defensive injury worries are mounting again.

Ruben Dias is back after making his return against Brighton, while Guardiola may look ahead to the Real Madrid game by resting some players against relegation-threatened Watford.

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Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling were unused substitutes in the week, so may be recalled in the interests of rotation. Joao Cancelo has played in each of the last five games, but is likely to be needed again against Watford, especially considering he's suspended against Real.

Read how our writers think City should line up below and use the interactive team selector to pick your own team:

Stuart Brennan

The need to pick up three points has to be balanced with a need to keep players relatively fresh for the Real Madrid game three days later. Kevin De Bruyne is so important at the moment that he needs to start, with the idea of being taken off if City reach a comfortable winning position.

Bernardo Silva could be held back to replace him, with Ilkay Gundogan also coming into the equation. City can also re-shuffle up front, with starts for Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Grealish. The defensive set-up depends on fitness tests for Stones, Ake and Walker but it would be foolish to risk any of them in a game in which City will be on the