On Friday night, Manchester City will play Fluminense in the FIFA Club World Cup final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This will be the team’s first-ever FIFA Club World Cup.

Tuesday night, Pep Guardiola and his team easily defeated the Japanese powerhouse Urawa Red Diamonds 0-3 and with goals either side of the half to advance to the tournament’s final stage.

The match ended in a draw for the defending Champions of Europe thanks to an own goal at the end of the half. Matheus Nunes’ cross found its way into the goal past Marius Hoibraten’s outstretched foot.

After a fantastic through ball from Kyle Walker, Mateo Kovacic smashed home a second goal to cap off a first-half performance that was completely dominant. Bernardo Silva completed the scoring on 59 minutes.

This week, Fluminense defeated Al Ahly of Egypt to get to the final match against Manchester City. Goals from John Kennedy and John Arias set up a match between the two football titans right before Christmas.

Due to competition regulations prohibiting squad modifications, Manchester City will be without Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Erling Haaland on Friday night. The three were taken off of their 23-man roster prior to their match against Urawa Reds.

These are our predictions for Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup versus Fluminense in the FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah, which is scheduled to take place on matchday at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.

Predicted XI

After keeping his and the defensive line’s first clean sheet in nine games across all competitions, Ederson, who started the semi-final encounter earlier this week, is probably going to stay in goal for Manchester City.

In response to criticism of his performances and leadership abilities, club captain and dependable right-back Kyle Walker mounted a valiant defense in an interview prior to Friday’s championship game. Nevertheless, we anticipate that under Pep Guardiola, he will once again start from the first whistle.

After playing mostly in defensive midfield in his previous game, we anticipate that England international John Stones will be paired with Ruben Dias in this one, moving Manuel Akanji to the bench as a replacement.

This week against Fluminense, we anticipate Nathan Ake to start for Manchester City as their left-back. The Dutchman has shown excellent play everytime he has been used.

Rodri is set to start in the middle of defense.

Even though Phil Foden had a strong performance against a mostly inactive Urawa Red Diamonds team, we think Pep Guardiola should start Phil Foden in the attacking midfield position instead of Matheus Nunes because he can provide the momentum needed to move the ball farther up the field.

Mateo Kovacic, who just scored his first goal for Manchester City after joining the team from Chelsea before the current season began, is probably going to keep his spot.

Without Erling Haaland, things might get a little more complicated in the attacking line, but we expect Bernardo Silva to be the one to advance from the right side of the front three.

Julian Alvarez might be given the chance to lead the line and provide his customary fierce pressing against an aging but seasoned Fluminense rearguard as Manchester City’s attacker from the outset.

Due to Jeremy Doku’s injury, Jack Grealish is expected to start on the left side. The Englishman was responsible for the majority of City’s attacking activity in the first half against Urawa Reds.

Starting lineup: Ederson; Rodri, Kovacic, Foden; Bernardo, Alvarez, Grealish; Walker, Stones, Dias, Ake.

Ortega Moreno, Carson, Lewis, Alleyne, Gvardiol, Gomez, Phillips, Susoho, Nunes, Hamilton, Bobb are the replacements.