A damning guilty verdict means Manchester City have been battling through adversity and consternation for the past month, but they’d performed without compromise on the field until a winning start to the Premier League season was brought to an abrupt halt.

One domestic defeat brought two for the Cityzens, who followed their 2–1 loss at Aston Villa by succumbing at home to the impressive Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend (they at least beat the Seagulls on penalties to qualify for the Carabao Cup quarterfinals in between).

There was certainly an element of misfortune surrounding Saturday’s defeat, with Brighton forced to defend with their backs against the wall for the most part and heavily reliant on an outstanding goalkeeping performance from Bart Verbruggen.

Now, Enzo Maresca’s side have the chance to cash in on some wasted xG against an opponent they’ve so often had their way with since meeting for the first time in 2021.

Here’s how Man City could line up in Leipzig.

Man City Predicted Lineup vs. RB Leipzig

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma—Donnarumma has endured a pretty disappointing start to 2026–27, and he’ll soon come under pressure from Gerónimo Rulli if that malaise between the posts persists.

RB: Abdukodir Khusanov—A daunting challenge awaits whoever Maresca opts to start at right back, with Leipzig’s left winger, Antonio Nusa, entering the contest in tremendous form. Erling Haaland’s international teammate has 10 goal contributions in eight Bundesliga appearances this season.

CB: Rúben Dias—Dias will take the captain’s armband in Leipzig on what will be his 71st appearance in this competition.

CB: Marc Guéhi—Guéhi had the weekend off after another troubled outing at Villa Park, but the defender hasn’t been exiled completely. Expect the Englishman to return to the fold here.

LB: Nico O’Reilly—It’s time for O’Reilly to become a more prominent figure again, with the marauding left back coming in to replace Joško Gvardiol, who could face his former club off the bench.

CM: Elliot Anderson—More minutes in the tank for Anderson, who continues to impress in City’s engine room.

Pick Your Man City XI!

CM: Ayyoub Bouaddi—The manager‘s use of the young Moroccan at the weekend drew criticism from former Egypt striker Mohamed Aboutrika, who said that playing Bouaddi higher up the pitch "is like playing [Lionel] Messi in goal." Perhaps Maresca will heed that advice midweek.

RW: Phil Foden—Allan continues to look short of the required quality, so if Maresca wants to offer one of his wingers a chance in Antoine Semenyo’s absence, he could turn to Foden, who was bright on the right in last week’s Carabao Cup victory over the Seagulls.

AM: Rayan Cherki—Maresca should have had Cherki in from the start on Saturday, although the Frenchman did play most of the second half. Still, he’ll surely find himself back in the team in Saxony.

LW: Jérémy Doku—Doku will be happy to see the back of Brighton’s Costinha, who was dogged in his efforts to stymie the Belgian at the weekend. The winger played 90 minutes on Saturday, so don’t expect him to go back-to-back.

ST: Erling Haaland—Haaland enjoyed himself against Leipzig when he was at Borussia Dortmund, and the hosts are likely still scarred from the Norwegian’s five-goal outing in the second leg of their round of 16 tie three years ago.