Looking Ahead to Manchester City at Lyon Away

There are always moments in a season which come to define the progress being made and Lyon away feels like one of those moments

Pep Guardiola was somewhat coy and irascible in his regulation pre match UEFA Press Conference today. He pointed out that Manchester City failed to beat Lyon in the home leg because “we lost”, detailed the restrictions placed on the travelling squad through injury and then shared a fact which surprised most people.

Guardiola explained he has never won all three away matches in the Champions League Group Stages before. A win tomorrow for Manchester City away at Lyon will break that record and potentially set City on a clearer course for the next phase of the season. For a win quite simply guarantees that Manchester City will progress through to the knock out phases of the competition and all but cements them in top spot. In theory that should make the next phase of the knock out draw slightly easier.

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Being in control of this Champions League group tomorrow night will allow Guardiola to treat the final game in the group against Hoffenheim next month as a more relaxed affair, and potentially may provide an opportunity to offer game time to fringe players. A rare breather in a packed schedule. But that all depends on a positive result against Lyon.

What we know from facing Lyon already is they are capable of beating us by playing a kind of budget Liverpool approach. They attack fast and harry us off the ball, forcing mistakes and using speed to capitalise. Nabil Fekir looked a proper player against us – we gave him time and space on the ball and failed to protect our own back . It was a rare off game for us and its important to note since losing we have been on a fairly consistent run across all competitions.

Winning a way at Lyon will be no mean feat, not least in part due to our injury roster which is beginning to bite. Guardiola confirmed after the open training session today that Bernardo Silva remains unfit, Ilkay Gundogan has a problem with his foot and has not travelled and Gabriel Jesus has an abductor injury. Add to these the long term injured such as Kevin De Bruyne and Benjamin Mendy and it is clear there is a World Class team out injured.

With the Bournemouth league game coming up on Saturday, Guardiola may well want to protect his depleted midfield and could well spring a defensive surprise. He may name a side designed to counteract the attacking threat posed by Lyon. But this is Guardiola and despite my sensible head talking I am fully expecting Ederson to be in midfield.

This will be a much sterner test than West Ham United and for City to come away with a win will require a much improved performance.

Predicted Starting XI

4-3-3 Formation

Goalkeeper

Ederson

Defence

Kyle Walker, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Fabian Delph

Midfield

John Stones, Phil Foden, David Silva

Attack

Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling