U23s Match Preview: Leicester City vs. Manchester City

Steve Beaglehole’s men have enjoyed a prolonged rest since the 4-0 defeat by Chelsea at St George’s Park on Friday 13 January after their trip to face West Ham United last week was postponed. 

City face a double-header at their new home with Southampton coming to the East Midlands next week and Beaglehole says this is an opportunity for his side to gather some steam as the season reaches its final months. 

Assistant manager Ben Petty called for an immediate response following the setback against Adi Viveash’s Blues earlier this month and the Foxes will be buoyed by their performance against City in a 1-1 draw in September. 

Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad manager Simon Davies admits he is concerned for left-back Erik Sarmiento after he was carried off after just 10 minutes during the 3-1 Premier League Cup loss to Derby County. 

The Spaniard will miss the trip to Leicester this week and Davies says his backroom team are still awaiting news from the doctors about the length of time which he will face away from action as he begins his recovery. 

The North West outfit experimented with several formations in Sarmiento’s absence against the Rams with their usual 4-3-3 set-up being replaced by 3-2-4-1 for much of the match. 

Davies, whose side sit second, has promoted a host of the club’s younger players to the Under-23s line-up in recent weeks with Joe Hardy and Colin Rosler enjoying spells with the older players. 

Development Squad manager Steve Beaglehole said this week: “We’re expecting a very tough test against a strong team but we’re confident in our abilities on home soil. 

“They’re towards the top of the table so we know all about their qualities but we’re looking for a positive reaction to the Chelsea result and we feel we have the players to hurt them.” 

Speaking after the Chelsea match, Ben Petty, the City assistant coach, added: “Chelsea were a tough side and, again, we need to learn from today. We’ve just talked about the qualities of Chelsea, not just technically, but how hard they worked off the ball. 

“They defended very well. Over the last week Steve and I have been disappointed with how we’ve defended. We have prided ourselves on being hard to beat and we’ve let ourselves down.” 

Following the 3-1 reverse to Derby, Manchester City Under-23s boss Simon Davies said: “Unfortunately, there’s been an injury to Erik which we hope isn’t going to be too bad but the early signs don’t look great. 

“All the lads and the staff really feel for him as he’s just been getting back into it and training well so to get this injury isn't nice. I think that had a big effect on the boys because they came in and saw him at half-time. 

“We’ve done a lot of work in our normal shape so we wanted to return to that in the second half. The second half performance was a total surprise to me because I thought we applied ourselves well in the first half and created a lot.” 

Manchester City have a number of exciting players at their disposal with Brahim Diaz continuing his meteoric rise at the Etihad Campus this season. 

Just 17-years-old, Diaz has been utilised in several different positions so far this season but has looked most effective on the right side of midfield for Davies’s men thus far. 

That progress continued this month when the Malaga-born defender scored the opening goal in a 3-1 victory over rivals Manchester United at the Leigh Sports Village. 

TICKETS 

Supporters wishing to attend Monday’s fixture can do so by purchasing their tickets from the City Fanstore at King Power Stadium until 4pm on the day. 

Any remaining tickets will be sold from outside Holmes Park from 5.30pm on Monday evening*. 

Prices: 

Adults - £3 

Over-65s and Under-18s - £1 

* Please note all payments on the night from outside Holmes Park are cash-only.