As soon as they lose the ball Guardiola’s teams mob the opposition player in possession and will be all over a 2 man City midfield like a rash, especially when one of them is Yaya. His talent is his passing game and control of possession, his defensive work is strictly average. Navas works back well, Silva and Nasri give a nod in that direction but it seems to me that we will need a box to box player in there to make a three in the centre of the park. One thing is for sure, our much vaunted flair players can’t play without the ball.

I have no idea what side Pellers will pick but personally would sacrifice Nasri or Navas for Milner for the first hour at least and have him playing in a midfield 3 so that BM have to go wide to get around them. If we are still in the game after an hour and the steam has abated who knows, with Dzeko available and the guile and possession ability of Nasri, or the pace of Navas to come off the bench anything could happen.

Defend well and we could get a 1-1 draw. That would be an excellent result so early in our season in my view.