Manchester City welcome Newcastle United to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon in what is a huge game in the race for Champions League qualification.

After a week that saw City concentrate their efforts on the FA Cup and Champions League, Pep Guardiola's side will now turn their attention towards league action as they look to maintain pressure on the top four.

City failed to back up their cup win at Leyton Orient in midweek. Despite leading twice, they fell to a 3-2 defeat at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League play-off round.

It means they have a mountain to climb in the second leg in Madrid on Wednesday, and while their immediate focus will switch to Newcastle on Saturday, Guardiola may have that trip to the Spanish capital in the back of his mind with his team selection this afternoon.

He can't afford to take his eye off the ball in the league, with Newcastle heading to Eastlands level on points with City and with both sides keen to cut the two-point gap between themselves and the top four.

Guardiola has a decision to make in goal after Ederson's error-strewn performance in midweek, and Stefan Ortega could get the nod with that in mind.

City's number one priority in the summer transfer market has to be a new right-back and the threat of Anthony Gordon down Newcastle's left-hand side could prove to be a problem.

Matheus Nunes has been used in the role but struggled in the Champions League against PSG. Rico Lewis struggled against Real Madrid, too, but he is probably more of a natural choice on Saturday.

John Stones' fitness has to be managed carefully so Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake will retain their places at centre-half and Josko Gvardiol will start at left-back.

Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan will come back into the midfield and Guardiola will probably opt to keep Kevin De Bruyne in there ahead of Bernardo Silva.

Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush are expected to come back into the starting line-up, too, with Erling Haaland unsurprisingly leading the line.

City predicted XI vs Newcastle: Ortega; Lewis, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol; Gundogan, Kovacic, De Bruyne; Foden, Marmoush; Haaland