Kevin De Bruyne starts on the bench as Man City host Everton (MB Media/Getty)
Pep Guardiola insists Kevin De Bruyne ‘feels good’ despite being benched for Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Everton on Saturday.
De Bruyne completed his first 90 minutes since returning from a hamstring injury on Monday evening as Man City came from behind to seal a 3-1 victory over Brentford.
But the Belgium international drops to the substitutes’ bench as City host Everton at the Etihad Stadium in Saturday’s early kick-off, while Matheus Nunes starts in central midfield alongside Rodri.
City face a tight turnaround as they play FC Copenhagen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday evening before playing Chelsea at home next Saturday.
Asked if De Bruyne has been benched with City’s Champions League clash in mind or if he needs a rest, Guardiola replied: ‘No, no he feels good.
MAN CITY VS EVERTON TEAMS
MAN CITY: Ederson; Stones, Akanji, Dias, Ake; Rodrigo, Nunes, Foden, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland
SUBS: Ortega Moreno, Walker, Grealish, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Bobb, Wright, Lewis
EVERTON: Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Young, Garner, Gueye, McNeil, Harrison; Calvert-Lewin
SUBS: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Onana, Beto, Coleman, Chermiti, Hunt, Dobbin
‘But at the same time I always have a [winces] still right now. He played 90 minutes [aginst Brentford], he felt really good, he had time to recover but we have a lot of games ahead of us.
‘Matheus [Nunes] is training really good, we need him too, sometimes you use players for a long time, when you use him they’re not ready, they have a lack of rhythm, so that’s why we need everybody involved.
‘Hopefully in the second half we can use some new players to change the dynamics or defend the result.’
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