On Sunday Manchester City face Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium.
So far this season we have not been short of spectacle at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City have scored 16 goals at home in 4 games and even found the time to be denied one victory against Spurs by VAR.
Wolves arrive at this game after a slow start in the Premier League, at least in part due to the travails of competing in the UEFA League since July. They would not be the first English club to see their ambitions thwarted through the demands of twice weekly competition.
Yet in many ways that is little more than a lazy shorthand. Wolves seem to have overcome their slow start and are now thriving upon the advantage of playing frequently – that is momentum can be easy to build.
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Wolves sit 13th in the Premier League and their solitary League win came against lowly Watford. Their two defeats so far have come at the hands of Chelsea and Everton indicating they are no easy pushovers.
Indeed Wolves will be up for this match, buoyed by a win in the Thursday night Cup away in Turkey. Everyone raises their game against the Champions it seems anyway. The prospect of facing Guardiola and City is a big draw for all sides.
City will be without the enigmatic brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne, a blow to any side. We will have to hope City find a way both to avoid falling victim to a counter attacking sucker punch and that we make some of our own chances count.
Therein lies the real issue. For whilst we are always open at the back – regardless of the personnel we deploy – because of the high attacking line we start in every match, the real issue is we have conspired to miss so many more chances than we have converted.
It seems wrong to complain about our strikers when we are league leaders on goals scored, but the truth is our profligacy in front of goal will cost us a result if we are not careful.
Our wastefulness in front of goal spreads throughout our side like a malingering ailment and serves to place our defending under pressure. If we are to come away with a victory we need to turning our chances into goals, especially if we are able to turn this match into a comfortable victory for our fans to relax and enjoy.
Knowing that, and understanding how Wolves like to play it will be interesting to see how Guardiola chooses to line up his team. I expect to see a 4-2-1-2-1 in defensive phases and a 4-3-3 when attacking with Ilkay Gundogan dropping in alongside Rodrigo.
Our defence will again be the pairing of Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho at centre back, with Kyle Walker on the right and most likely Oleks Zinchenko on the left.
I expect to see David Silva starting in midfield but would be happy if Phil Foden was starting instead. Up front I think we will see Gabriel Jesus flanked again by Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez.
Should City manage to strike a positive result from this game it will set us up nicely for the coming International break, after which we should be able to call upon John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne who should be back from injury.
After the International break will start the real meaty bit of the League as the weather sets in and we start a period of playing twice a week until January.
Predicted Starting XI
Ederson
Walker, Otamendi, Fernandinho
Rodrigo, Gundogan, Silva
Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez