Manchester City will be looking to return from the international break with a bang when they welcome Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's side have been uncharacteristically average so far this term, winning one, drawing one and losing one of their opening three games to sit 14th in the table - albeit with a game in hand over most other teams.

It is City's worst start to a campaign since 2010-11, and things do not get any easier with the visit of an Arsenal team with three wins from four so far, led by Guardiola's former assistant Mikel Arteta.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how the hosts could line up for this weekend's contest.

Out: Kevin De Bruyne (muscle), Gabriel Jesus (muscle)
Doubtful: Raheem Sterling (hamstring), Sergio Aguero (knee), Ilkay Gundogan (coronavirus), Oleksandr Zinchenko (muscle)

> Click here for Man City's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Guardiola faces the prospect of being without some of his biggest hitters for this match, perhaps most notably of all Kevin De Bruyne, who has scored more goals against Arsenal than he has against any other club in the Premier League, including three last season.

The PFA Player of the Year limped off during Belgium's defeat to England at Wembley last weekend and, while Belgium boss Roberto Martinez played down the severity of the problem, De Bruyne was forced to then withdraw from the squad.

It is not expected to be an injury which keeps De Bruyne sidelined for too long, but he will play no part this weekend and Guardiola's pre-match comments suggested that the playmaker will miss more games beyond this one too.

De Bruyne's likely absence could open the door for Ilkay Gundogan to make his first appearance of the season, though, with the midfielder having now recovered from coronavirus and used the international break to get back up to fitness.

Another question mark hangs over the head of Raheem Sterling, who missed the international break entirely with a hamstring problem but could be in contention for this match.

The winger, who has scored more goals than any other Premier League player in all competitions since the start of last season, will undergo a late fitness test and is expected to pass that, but Guardiola will likely exercise caution if there is any doubt due to the nature of hamstring injuries.

The need for Sterling is arguably greater than that of even De Bruyne considering Man City's other absentees; Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero are both nearing returns, but this match is expected to come too soon for the duo, leaving City still without a recognised centre-forward.

Aguero could feature in the squad and make his first appearance of the season off the bench, but he is unlikely to be thrown straight back into the starting lineup after such a lengthy absence.

Guardiola switched back to a 4-3-3 for the draw with Leeds United before the international break and, while that performance was still short of the high standards we have come to expect from this City side, it was a significant improvement on the 5-2 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Leicester City in their last home outing with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Considering Arsenal also changed to a 4-3-3 in their last game, Guardiola could opt to stick with that shape for this match.

> Click here to see how Arsenal could line up for this contest

Video prediction

Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below: