City defence on the line vs Blues

SATURDAY’S FIXTURES

Manchester City’s defensive resilience in the absence of the injured Benjamin Mendy faces its first and arguably toughest test when the Premier League leaders travel to champions Chelsea on Saturday. The 23-year-old France full-back has been in fine form for City since his £50 million ($67 million, 57 million euros) preseason move from Monaco.

But Thursday saw City announce Mendy will undergo surgery in Barcelona on Friday after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during last weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace.

“Bad news guys -- I’ll be joining Injury FC on loan for a couple months with ruptured ACL... but will be back soon & stronger,” tweeted Mendy. City manager Pep Guardiola is under pressure to make good on a huge amount of pre-season spending that saw him splash out Huddersfield Town vs Tottenham Hotspur 5:00 PM AFC Bournemouth vs Leicester City 7:30 PM Manchester United vs

Crystal Palace 7:30 PM

Stoke City vs

Southampton 7:30 PM

West Bromwich Albion vs Watford 7:30 PM

West Ham United vs

Swansea City 7:30 PM Chelsea vs

Manchester City 10:00 PM more than £130 million on three full-backs alone by bringing major silverware back to the Etihad Stadium.

Both City and Chelsea, three points behind both Guardiola’s men and second-placed Manchester United, go into Saturday’s game on the back of midweek Champions League victories.