Football

Manchester City gaffer Pep Guardiola gives Brazil star Gabriel Jesus first EPL start this year

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MANCHESTER: Brazil star Gabriel Jesus will start his first Premier League match this year for runaway leaders Manchester City at Stoke on Monday.

The 20-year-old -- who returned to the City line-up for last week's Champions League match with Basel after being out with a knee ligament injury -- gets the nod from Pep Guardiola because of a knee injury to City's record goalscorer Argentinian Sergio Aguero.

Aguero is expected to be out for a fortnight.

Guardiola also recalled Raheem Sterling to the starting XI, the England international having missed almost a month because of injury.  

City, who need four more wins to wrap up the Premier League title, also start with Jesus's compatriot midfielder Fernandinho and injury-prone Belgian central defender Vincent Kompany.

Stoke, who will move out of the bottom three with a win, have drawn their last three games but won just one of their last 10 league fixtures.

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