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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Liam Wood

'Saving our ace' - Man City fans split over Pep Guardiola decision vs Burnley

Pep Guardiola's starting XI for the clash with relegation-threatened Burnley has caused quite a stir. Raheem Sterling is among those given a chance to impress as Guardiola makes three changes from the most-recent Premier League match against Crystal Palace.

Ruben Dias (hamstring) and Cole Palmer (foot) remain on the sidelines after Guardiola ruled them out during a pre-match press conference which also saw the City manager reveal that Dias might be missing for crunch games with Atletico Madrid and Liverpool in the coming weeks.

Fit-again John Stones has only been added to the bench as Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte start at centre-back. They are flanked by England star Kyle Walker and the in-form Joao Cancelo.

READ MORE: The eight Man City players set to benefit most from Premier League rule change

Ederson stays put between the posts. In midfield and attacking quarters, meanwhile, Ilkay Gundogan starts to give Bernardo Silva a rest and the Germany player has also been handed the armband. Surprisingly, Algeria forward Riyad Mahrez has been benched.

Sterling returns in a front three that also features England teammates Phil Foden and £100m signing Jack Grealish. Academy duo Luke Mbete and Conrad Egan-Riley are named in the squad.

Naturally, there was bound to be widespread attention on what Guardiola opted to do before kick-off against the Clarets this afternoon. Here is a selection of comments from City supporters taken from the popular social media platform Twitter;

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