Yokohama F. Marinos vs Manchester City, Club Friendly: Team News, Preview and Prediction

Competition/Round: Club Friendly

Date Time: Yokohama F. Marions vs Manchester City – Saturday, 27 July 2019, 11:30 GMT (UK); 06:30 EST, 03:30 PST (USA)

Venue: Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan

Match Officials:

Referee: Unknown

TV: N/A

Live Stream: DAZN USA (USA)

Radio: N/A

Preview:

Following Manchester City’s routing over Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC, the Sky Blues have travled to Japan for their final 2019 pre-season friendly. They will face Yokohama F. Marinos on Saturday.

Team News:

Yokohama, who currently sit in second place of the Japanese J1 League, recently defeated Vissel Kobe. During the match, defender Thiago Martins was sent off, thus it is unlikely he will feature in this friendly.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have been on tour in Asia for the past two weeks. This is their final scheduled match for this pre-season tour.

Possible Lineups:

Yokohama F. Marinos

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Park; Wada, Ito, Hatanaka, Bunmathan; Kida, Amano; Nakagawa, Júnior, Endo; Junio

Manager: Ange Postecoglou

Manchester City

Formation: 4-3-3

Bravo; Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodri, D. Silva; B. Silva, Sterling, Sané

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Prediction:

Yokohama finished 12 in the Japanese J1 League last season, but they have had a remarkable turnaround this season. The Marinos currently sit in second place in the J1 table and are three points behind current leaders FC Tokyo. Moreover, they have won four of their previously five matches played.

Yokohama have already played a significant portion of their domestic, competitive season, it is likely they will be better prepared than Manchester City in this match. The Sky Blues recently routed Hong Kong side Kitchee SC, but the Mancunians will likely face a more difficult test in Yokohama. Moreover, the visitors will look to avoid any injuries as their first competitive match will come against Liverpool in the 2019 Community Shield next weekend.

Given what is at stake, Manchester City may let up in this match to ensure the squad is fully fit and healthy before their fixture against Liverpool next week. In addition, Yokohama have already played 20 competitive J1 League fixtures this season, thus it is predicted they will be better poised for this match.

Yokohama F. Marinos 3-2 Manchester City