Man City XI vs West Ham: Starting lineup and confirmed team news
Pep Guardiola was forced to leave the Belgian playmaker at home for the win over Fulham, citing a minor injury issue suffered in the latter stages against Arsenal.
On Tuesday, Guardiola confirmed that De Bruyne was only just about to return to training.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW MAN CITY VS WEST HAM LIVE!
“Kevin is starting to move but he hasn’t trained with the team,” he said ahead of the afternoon session. “We’ll see in a few hours how he’ll be.”
Elsewhere, Nathan Ake has now returned to training having missed a few games with a hamstring injury he suffered last month.
The Dutch defender was confirmed as “feeling good” by Guardiola having rejoined the group on Monday, and starts tonight. Manuel Akanji has deputised at left-back for City in Ake’s absence, though drops out here.
Having scored the winner at Fulham, Julian Alvarez keeps his place with De Bruyne still sidelined. One surprise is in goal, where usual first-choice Ederson is only a substitute as deputy Stefan Ortega starts instead.
Man City XI: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Bernardo, Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish, Haaland
Subs: Ederson, Phillips, Gundogan, Laporte, Gomez, Akanji, Perrone, Foden, Lewis