Pep Guardiola starts two new Man City signings against Chelsea

Pep Guardiola named Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov in his Manchester City starting XI for Saturday's huge Premier League clash with Chelsea.

The Catalan coach publicly called for January reinforcements after his injury-ravaged side recorded one win in 13 matches leading up to Boxing Day. City's recruitment department have delivered, spending around £123m on three new players.

Former Palmeiras centre-back Vitor Reis only made the bench for the visit of Chelsea this weekend, but his fellow defender Khusanov was thrown straight in to the starting XI in the absence of the injured Ruben Dias.

When discussing the qualities of the £42m centre-back from Lens this week, Guardiola gushed: "Khusanov has already settled for the fact that he played in the French league, handling tough, quick, fast players. But he doesn't speak much English so communication will be one of the situations that we have to deal with."

Marmoush is practically fluent in the language, thanks largely to the influence of his parents, who both lived in Canada for six years and obtained citizenship for the North American nation.

The proud Egypt international is enjoying the best form of his career. Barely past the halfway mark of the campaign, Marmoush racked up 20 goals and 14 assists across all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt this term.

No wonder Guardiola was compelled to predict: "I think he will adapt quickly."

Kevin De Bruyne, who failed to make an impact in City's midweek collapse to Paris Saint-Germain, was dropped to the bench while the £59m recruit lined up behind Erling Haaland.

"New players can help, of course," the City boss noted ahead of the all-important clash with fourth-placed Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification. "They are here for that reason. Again, this could not happen without the amount of circumstances that we had."

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