The early kick-off in Sunday’s Premier League action sees Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side host a rejuvenated Swansea City side under new manager Paul Clement.

City back to their best

Manchester City head into this weekend’s fixture on the back of an impressive 4-0 victory over West Ham United on Wednesday night which saw Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure all on the scoresheet.

City’s comfortable win in midweek helped them draw level on points with Liverpool in 4th place and close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to ten points.

Guardiola’s side have now won back-to-back games after they also knocked Crystal Palace out of the FA Cup and they will be aiming to make it three consecutive wins against a Swansea side who have struggled this season.

Sergio Aguero found himself benched in City’s dominant performance at the London Stadium and new signing Jesus impressed scoring his first goal for the club. The Brazilian will be hoping to keep his place in the starting team and get himself on the scoresheet again.

City’s defence also looked much better in midweek but John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi will know they’ll need to perform again this weekend. Guardiola may stick with Willy Caballero after the Argentinian replaced the maligned Claudio Bravo and kept a clean sheet.

Clement leads Swansea resurgence

A heavy 4-0 defeat to Arsenal got Clement’s spell as Swansea manager underway however the Englishman has turned the Welsh sides fortunes around and the Swans have won consecutive league games for the first time this season.

Gylfi Sigurdsson and a Fernando Llorente double sealed a famous victory at Anfield a fortnight ago before Alfie Mawson and Sigurdsson were on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win over Southampton at the Liberty in midweek.

Swansea find themselves outside the relegation zone as they sit two points ahead of Crystal Palace in 18th. The Swans are also now five points ahead of fellow strugglers Sunderland and Hull.

Clement’s men have improved in front of goal in recent weeks with five goals in their last two fixtures. Sigurdsson and Llorente have linked up well and if they continue to do so they could cause problems for a fragile City defence.

However, the Swans will need to toughen up at the back if they hope to come away from the Etihad Stadium with a point, or more, this weekend.

Team news

Manchester City could welcome back captain Vincent Kompany and Fernadinho but will still be without Ilkay Gundogan.

Jesus could retain his position in the side following his first goal for City in midweek against West Ham.

Paul Clement is expected to name an unchanged side for the third game running however Leon Britton could return to the side following a spell on the sidelines with a calf injury.

Last time the sides met

Manchester City earned a 3-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium earlier in the season with a double from Sergio Aguero and a Raheem Sterling strike earning City all three points. It was City’s second victory in Swansea inside a week as they beat them 2-1 in the League Cup three days earlier.

Swansea have only managed to earn one victory over Manchester City in twelve attempts since promotion to the Premier League. The Swans have also only ever overcome City away from home once back in 1951 with a 2-1 victory.

Predicted line-ups

Manchester City: (4-1-4-1) Caballero; Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov; Toure; De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Sane; Jesus.

Swansea City: (4-3-3) Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Fer, Cork, Carroll; Routledge, Llorente, Sigurdsson.

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