It would be nice to go…

…out on a high ahead of a full, 2-week international break; with our next game being another Saturday, 5:30pm KO (BST).

A few words on last Tuesday’s win…

I didn’t see it due to feeling a little under the weather / being asleep at the time.

A few MORE words on last Tuesday’s win…

I’ve seen the highlights and read the reports – by all accounts a very professional performance from us in a game that we controlled from the very start. Brilliant performance from Phil and a crackin’ goal from Kev being two of the highlights. Fab!

A few words on the draw for the Champions League…

When Erling Haaland arrives for the first leg (but more on that very soon), do you think we could find a way of not letting him back on their coach after the game whilst, at the same time, getting him to sign a piece of paper that has the words, “5-year contract” on it?

A few MORE words on the draw for the Champions League…

Now that we’ve drawn yet-another German side (and then-possibly another one after that should we progress past Die Schwarzgelben); is this going to be another case of playing both legs at neutral venues (and then again for the next round if…) not only due to Germany’s current Covid-19 travel restrictions for its own citizens but also because of a recent rise in Coronavirus cases in Deutschland, as well as neighbouring countries? Nothing has been said of that since the draw as far as I know but I’m guessing that has to be the case, don't you? Huh…we could be back in Budapest for a 3^rd visit in 2 1/2-weeks’ time!

v Everton

Goodison Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero___________________

 

 

__Jesus_______________________________Torres__

 

__________Gundogan_______De Bruyne___________

 

_________________Fernandinho__________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Walker

 

___________Laporte___________Dias_____________

 

 

____________________Steffen____________________

Subs: Ederson, Cancelo, Mendy, Stones, Rodri, Foden, Silva, Mahrez, Sterling.

Zack has been getting the F.A. Cup games and, so, I’ve no reason to think that he might not continue to put the gloves on for this competition.

I’ve got to think that, having had just 26 minutes of ‘the 90’ 5 days ago, that Oleksandr will start in the left-wing back berth but, opposingly…literally, I think we’re gonna need Kyle’s pace & power against Richarlison on the other side and, so, I think he’ll be asked to ‘go again’; despite having played the whole match in midweek. Aymeric & Ruben to partner in-between those, I would say for this one.

Fernandinho might get the defensive midfield role this evening – that’s what I’m going for.

Ahead of the Brazilian, I’m quite confident that we’ll see a strong pairing of in-form Ilkay and rapidly-improving [since his comeback from injury] Kevin in the middle…but I’m sticking my neck out and using my instincts to suggest that we might see Gabriel being used as a left-sided winger / forward and Ferran being used likewise on the opposite flank. If I’m right, that’s gonna raise more questions about what’s happening with Raheem and / or between him and his manager; even though Pep has already stated that there’s no sinister reasons.

And in another slightly risky forecast, I think we might see Sergio being given a starting run-out for this clash.

Ederson takes a step back step as reserve keeper. However, I just wonder…should it look like the game is going to penalties (games decided on the day this season with no replays); whether Ederson will be brought on as an outfield player / penalty taker? Benjamin, Joao & John make up the full range of left, right & central defensive cover, while Rodders, Phil, Bernardo, Riyad & Raheem provide the midfield & wing replacement options from ‘the 9’ (remember, 5 subs allowed in this one on [still] no more than 3 occasions).

Notable absences:

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

-       Nathan Ake – Not selected.

No injuries whatsoever! Let’s hope we can say that after the flippin’ international break…

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yeah, I’d be happy with that.

Result? I think this’ll be a crackin’ cup tie and a difficult game for us. Everton have lost their last 2 league games and, in general, their home form is pretty bobbins.

However, this is the F.A. Cup and form does tend to go out of the window. I’m hoping that’s not the case for us, of course, because we’re in very good form.

Although I think they’ll get a goal despite us-seemingly resolving a little blip-period at the back; I think we’ll get past The Toffees to see ourselves in the semi-final and, therefore, another trip to Wembley to add to both the recent and up & coming trips to HA9.

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Dull, breezy but dry at least. 9C doesn’t even sound too bad. No conditions that will affect gameplay.

Hello again!

2^nd leg of the ‘round of 16’ and we find ourselves back in Hungary and the Puskas Arena in Budapest, all due to quarantine restrictions the German Government would have had to impose on our opponents upon their return if they’d have travelled to the UK.

v Borussia Monchengladbach

Puskas Arena

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).

After Pep COMPLETELY decimated my Fantasy Football team v Fulham with his exclusions of almost my entire midfield including my captain & vice-captain (yeah, thanks for that fella…but in hindsight I should have seen that coming with this game just 3 days later); I think we’re sure to see some rotation in the starting 11 / squad from last Saturday’s win…

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Jesus____________________

 

 

Foden__________________________________Mahrez

 

__________Gundogan_______De Bruyne__________

 

_________________Fernandinho__________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Walker

 

_____________Dias__________Stones_____________

 

 

___________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Carson, Cancelo, Mendy, Ake, Garcia, Laporte, Rodri, Silva, Sterling, Torres, Aguero.

Ederson - one of the only City players who, in hindsight once again, I really should have in my Fantasy Football team – continues in net.

‘The partnership’ in the middle of the defence is surely going to be selected to start tonight – that being Ruben & John. Oleksandr & Kyle, I think, will flank either of those.

Rodri might be asked to ‘go again’ but I’ve just got a feeling that the defensive midfield role might be rotated from last Saturday’s game. Fernandinho to get the job tonight I would say.

Ahead of the Brazilian is a likely attacking 4 of Phil, Ilkay, Kevin & Riyad, all in support of Gabriel.

With 12 subs to choose from and 5 allowed on, on no more than 3 occasions; both Zack & Scott are likely to get reserve keeper places on the bench. Joao, Benjamin, Nathan, Eric & Aymeric make up the rather large contingent of defensive options from the side. Rodders, Bernardo, Raheem & Sergio are the midfield / wing / attacking choices from ‘the 12’.

Notable absences:

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep, can’t see anything wrong with that for tonight’s 2^nd leg – defensively sound with excellent attacking threat to, hopefully, see us through.

Result? I’ve no idea if “our visitors” (you’ve got to laugh, haven’t you?) have any injuries to key players and the only other research I’ve done is to look at their league form, which shows as really poor D L L L L and sees them slip to 10^th.

You should never be complacent, especially in the Champions League I’ve come to learn, but this is a City win for me – a game I MIGHT not get to watch…

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Chilly. Clear skies and a brisk, north-westerly breeze is likely to make the 6C temperature feel closer to 1 or 2C, I’m sure. Nothing that should affect the game though.

 

 

Tighten up and gather momentum once again.

That would be my wish over the coming weeks as the end of the domestic season is just about visible now 10-weeks away on the far horizon.

Quick comment on our last game…

To me, that looked like a performance where the players didn't know how they-themselves would react after being used to such a long, winning run and following the derby defeat. I thought we played well...but in patches and I think that's reflected in the scoreline in some ways.

And it’s strange how we've gone from a solid team who doesn't concede many to conceding in our last 4 matches a total of 6 goals. Still, we managed to score in 3 of those games a total of 11 so we shouldn't complain too much or be overly concerned, I would say.

Hopefully, though, we can ‘tighten that up’ again before we meet much stronger sides because although we can very much be ‘free scoring’ as we were last Wednesday night and against Wolves recently; equally we all know how many missed chances we're all-too-often guilty of.

If we can just sort that out at the back once again - we know we can and have better defenders than we’ve had in recent seasons - then that should give the more-advanced players renewed confidence…and once they have that in abundance; I reckon we’d start another winning streak but, this time, at the ‘business end’ of the season as key cup fixtures start to head in our direction.

Let’s hope we can both build some winning momentum once again starting on Saturday night (8:00pm KO GMT) in south-west London whilst at the same time keep our first clean sheet in 5.

v Fulham

Craven Cottage (picture taken before construction started)

Just got a feeling we might go with no recognised striker for this one, as we have done so from time to time…

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / (3-7-0):

______________________________________________

 

Foden___________________________________Mahrez

___________________De Bruyne___________________

 

_________Gundogan____________Silva_____________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Cancelo

 

_____________Dias____________Stones____________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Mendy, Walker, Ake, Laporte, Fernandinho, Sterling, Jesus, Aguero.

Ed in net.

50% change to the back 4 from the last outing, I’m guessing, with Joao & John coming in to join Oleksandr & Ruben.

Rodders to come back in as defensive midfielder.

And attacking 5 then, I reckon, in the form of Phil, Ilkay, Kevin, Bernardo & Riyad all interchanging as needs must.

Zack the reserve stopper; Benjamin, Nathan & Aymeric provide defensive cover from the bench. Fernandinho, Raheem, Gabriel & Sergio are the midfield / wing / attacking options in ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

-       Ferran Torres – Not selected. If I’m right, I just get the feeling that Nathan Ake has been training long enough with his teammates now to put himself back in the frame following his rather lengthy injury and with the defence becoming a little leaky of late; I just wonder if Pep would like an extra defensive presence on the side to remind his “regular” defenders that there are plenty of options to come in. Then again, I could just be completely over-thinking the whole thing…

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yeah, I like the look of that.

Result? For those who have watched our hosts quite regularly, the general consensus seems to be that they are a better side than their position in the table (3^rd bottom as I type this) suggests.

They certainly do like to keep a philosophy of playing decent football with an attacking, creative flair whenever possible. The problem seems to be, from what I understand, that it doesn’t often pay off for them in the end; with missed chances and then a defence that can ‘give away’ and undo hard work.

Of the bottom 8 sides – and despite having played one more game than two of ‘em - I’d say they’re ‘in there’ with a few teams who have a better chance of survival than others but I’m hoping, of course, that they don’t improve their chances this weekend.

As for us, hard work is still required tomorrow if we’re to come home with ‘all 3’ but we should be buoyed by our midweek victory and 5-goals scored. I would hope, also, they will have poured over any flaky issues we had at the back with a view to rectifying them.

Do that and I can only see a City win, which is what I’m going for.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Bit of a sharp wind is expected to whip in off the River Themes side / from the west tomorrow night…the side of the ground that’s most exposed at the moment due to the complete re-build of the Riverside Stand (see progress video in the link below if you’re interested). That being the case, I can see the average 13 to 15MPH average winds - with possibly higher gusts - having some impact on play, especially whenever the ball is played high of course. Other than that, it’s dry but with a night-time temperature of just 6C throughout the match; I can imagine it being pretty nippy, especially for those on the side of the pitch facing the construction site / wind.

(RIVERSIDE STAND CONSTRUCTION UPDATE VIDEO)

Reset

It’s been a wonderful run full of fantastic football, hasn’t it? Pep himself, a few weeks ago, said that it won’t last and that we will lose a game but…did it really have to be against THEM?

I’d say no…it didn’t

Guardiola is an amazing manager. Furthermore, he’s the best Manchester City manager of all time. I’m even going to go one step further by saying that, when we were struggling a bit early on in the season; when it appeared, at times, that teams had “worked us out”, as many fans & pundits put it, and that we seemingly had no answer or ‘Plan B’; our Spanish boss gave us the answers and, I would say, a ‘Plan B+’.

I also think, in that same time, he’s improved the quality & consistency of individual players such as Joao Cancelo, Oleksandr Zinchenko & Riyad Mahrez.

So why, when faced with a “big game” (I think we can describe a derby game where 1^st played 2^nd a big game despite the points gap) does he all-too-often, not always, overthink things and / or seemingly-choose wrong personnel?

Of course, that’s all about opinions and I don’t know about you, the reader, but when I saw in the pre-match line-up that there was no Kyle Walker against a pacey, counter-attacking side; when I saw no Phil Foden in place of a recently-flaky Raheem Sterling and when I saw no in-form Bernardo Silva…I screwed up my eyes slightly and scratched my head a little.

And it turns out, I wasn’t alone.

As if they could read my thoughts, I’ve since read dozens of on-line comments from City fans saying exactly the same thing; some even agreeing with my comments in my pre-match blog posting that it might have been wise to run with no striker from the start of last Sunday’s game (huh…at least we wouldn’t have given away that early penalty had-we-have done so!).

After we’d ridden the Manyoo blitz-storm that they threw at us in the first 13 minutes or so, I thought we’d turned the tide and did increasingly well throughout the rest of the ‘first 45’. However, we did that without really threatening and with, also, a still-clearly off-pace Kevin De Bruyne who was firing misdirected passes to both empty spaces or players in red shirts; albeit he improved a little as the half went on, I thought.

However – and I think this is the most disappointing thing – that improvement from both the Belgium international and the rest of his teammates just halted from ‘minute 1’ of the second half and, just as they did in the first 13 minutes of the game, Manyoo simply took control and dominated most of the rest of the match. A deserved win for them? Huh…there’s no doubt about that for me and I think that’s what stings a little as our terrific run came to an end.

And just to finish and turn back to our manager one last time…why was he so slow to change things? It’s not the first time I’ve thought that whenever we’re behind or we’re struggling / things don’t look quite right. It took 65 minutes to make the change that should have been the case from the start – Walker for Cancelo – and another “should have been”, Phil for Gabriel, didn’t occur until ‘minute 71’! Result? 0-2.

Hopefully lessons learnt there and although every game is a big game in itself and for many reasons, starting not least with tonight’s home fixture against The Saints; we’ll see for sure if Pep has-indeed understood his errors (assuming he sees them as faults, of course) when we head into a REALLY big game.

v Southampton

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

I think we’ll see SOME rotation this evening (6:00pm KO GMT) – just a little ‘freshening up’ of things might just be what the Doctor ordered after a slight flattening of our effervescence in recent games; where we’ve also conceded 4 goals in our last 3 outings.

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero____________________

 

 

Foden____________________________________Torres

 

__________Gundogan__________Silva______________

 

__________________Fernandinho__________________

Zinchenko________________________________Walker

____________Laporte_________Stones_____________

 

 

____________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Cancelo, Ake, Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus.

No change with the keeper, though, as Ederson continues to take charge of the gloves.

I think Oleksandr & John will ‘get the nod’ to ‘go again’ but, for this one, will be joined by Aymeric & Kyle.

I think, also, we’ll see ‘our skipper’ and Brazilian international, Fernandinho, start in place of Rodders; a player I also believe we would have benefitted from having on from the start in our last game and despite our opponents’ counter-attacking pace (I see little, if any, difference in the pace of both Fernandinho & Rodders to make a difference).

Ahead of the 35-year-old, I think we’ll see an almost completely new attacking 5 [from the last match] and although Ilkay might be asked to put in another starting shift – hopefully regaining his goal-machine touch in the process – I think he’ll be joined by Phil, Bernardo, Ferran & Sergio.

Zack is the reserve keeper once again; Joao, Nathan & Ruben are the defensive replacement option in ‘the 9’. Rodri, Kevin, Riyad, Raheem & Gabriel wait on the side to be called on in case there’s a change needed in the midfield / wing / attacking department.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Not selected.

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yeah. I think this is a good game to test Sergio ‘from the off’ once more and although I’d feel sorry for a mostly-in-form Riyad; equally I’m looking forward to Ferran being released form the start and on his preferred right-side. If so, I hope we’d see him with the handbrake off should he get his starting opportunity this evening.

Result? Southampton were a side, in the first-third of the season, where I had 2 or 3 of their defenders in my Fantasy Football team and, where, I did exceptionally well from their inclusion. Our visitors were a strong, organised unit that teams really did struggle to break down but where, also, they hunted in packs and hurt teams at the ‘business end’ too.

Then it all started to go horribly wrong.

Injuries and…I dunno what else put the brakes on their season but even with the brakes on, it couldn’t help their position in the league slide ever-so-steadily downwards; almost as if someone had greased the pads.

Nothing seemed to go right for them in certain games either and it was a good job they’d had such a great start to the season because by the end of match-day 26, they were hanging just 7 points above the ‘drop zone’.

They finally won match 27 at the league’s bottom side, Sheffield United, but as Fulham gained 3 points at Anfield that same week; the south-coast side still stand just 7 points from the bottom 3.

It doesn’t help their plight that Danny Ings has picked up another injury but, on the flip side, I think what that does to them – in addition to their boost at-gaining their first 3 points in a long while – is to make them an even tougher side to break through both midfield & defence-wise (they have all defenders back fit now, as far as I know).

Yes, it’s gonna be another-repeated battering-ram job, I would suggest folks…

Pep said in his pre-match press conference that by Tuesday, the players’ disappointment from Sunday’s defeat had turned to-them-being, “…completely on fire to try to do a good game tomorrow”. I hope so and had little doubt that would be the case – it’ll be needed, as I’ve already suggested.

Could be a good game this and, in fact, even though they are missing Danny Ings; they do have other dangerous & creative players and it wouldn’t surprise me if we did-indeed concede for a 4^th-successive match.

All things considered though – even if we ARE breached – I’m going for us to start with a win after hitting the ‘reset button’ last Sunday.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Won

(Pre-match blog posting from that game - LOOK AT THE PREDICTED DEFENCE BACK THEN!)

Expected weather conditions during the game: A big test for the drainage of our pitch today, as it’s been raining quite a bit since about midnight and it’s set to get even heavier this afternoon. Although it might go from torrential to lighter rain as the ref blows to start the game, it’ll remain windy too; with average speeds of 14/15MPH…but with gusts of around 30 to 40. Huh…at least it’s mild’ish wind & rain, as the match both starts & finishes at 11C. I would say the ‘greasy pitch’ could be an influencing factor on the game; I’m not sure if the wind will penetrate the high-sided stadium much at pitch level.

 

 

The Manchester v Trafford derby

Or, put another way, City v the not-so noisy neighbours…

v Manyoo

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Jesus____________________

 

 

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

 

__________Gundogan________Silva_______________

 

_________________Fernandinho__________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Walker

 

_____________Dias__________Stones_____________

 

 

___________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Cancelo, Ake, Laporte, Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne, Torres, Aguero.

Ederson has the gloves.

I think Pep might see that we’ll need a little bit of speed on the flanks of our defence tomorrow (4:30pm KO GMT) and, for that, I can’t see better than Oleksandr & Kyle. Dias to ‘go again’ but I think he’ll be joined by John who, although I predicted him starting in midweek; I now believe that he was rested / protected for this one. Very wise...

And I think, as we’ve seen in the past, that our manager will go for the experienced head – and skipper – of Fernandinho over Rodders in the defensive midfield role for this particular encounter. Ahead of the Brazilian, I’m guessing that Guardiola will stick with Raheem on the left; with a staple, in-form 3 of Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad making up the rest of the attacking midfield / wing department.

Having had a decent game last Wednesday night, I’m going for Gabriel to be rewarded with a start ‘up top’.

Zack continues to be the reserve keeper; Joao, a returning Nathan & Aymeric are the rather impressive defensive replacement options from the side (who’d have thought last season that we’d be able to say that?!). Rodri, Phil, Kevin, Ferran & Sergio make up the also-very-impressive midfield / wing / attacking choices from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Not selected.

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Nearly…but not quite.

I’d have Phil in for Raheem on the left and, despite their respective form, I wouldn’t go with a striker from the start and, instead, I’d bring in Kevin for Gabriel in a fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 3-7-0-type formation. If Kev is more up to speed now and is radar has been re-adjusted then, along with the rest; Manyoo wouldn’t know how to deal with that in my opinion.

Result? Good news for Manyoo! They appear to have repaired, for the time-being at least, their expensive, faulty defence.

In all competitions in their last 7 outings, they’ve either conceded 0 or just the 1; keeping 5 clean sheets of those 7 games. However, the bad news for the reds from just west of Manchester is two-fold:

1.    The second-highest top scorers in the league have stopped scoring; failing to register a single goal in their last 3 games.

2.    They’re playing us.

I think it might be another tight affair similar to the reverse fixture earlier on in the season but not exactly the same – I can see goals in this one. I think it might get a little tetchy too (I hope not of course) and, for some reason, I get the feeling that Luke Shaw in particular might have his teeth gritted for this one as the ref blows his whistle to start the game.

But, in the end, I see a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Nowt doin’ really. 5 or 6C is perfick for the heat of a derby and it’s gonna be dry with just a light, north-easterly breeze.

 

 

Other teams around us keep…

 …leaving the door open for us to step further away from them in the table. Let’s hope we take advantage of their most-recent, very kind offer tonight.

v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 6/11).

I wonder if, like me, Pep has been giving some extra thought to the left-side of our defence ahead of tonight’s clash. A certain Adama Traore can play on the left-flank but is predominantly a right-sided menace for most left-backs and his pace & power does cause problems.

-      Do we continue with Oleksandr Zinchenko – a player who is no slouch himself for pace and who is not only in very good form but deserve a lot of credit for the work he’s put in, in order to look like a more-natural, left-wing back this season?

-      How about Aymeric Laporte – a far-more defence-minded defender for the left side to-perhaps monitor the Spanish flyer more closely and who, despite the bad injury he suffered a while back leaving some City fans saying that he’s lost a percentage of speed, still has decent pace himself from my perspective at least.

-      Does Guardiola shift Joao over to his less-favoured left? That certainly would allow Kyle Walker to take up his place on the right and, therefore, we’d have-arguably our fastest player on the other flank, just in case Traore is instructed to switch sides.

-      Or, indeed, does our manager bring the pace & power of Benjamin Mendy back, in an attempt to fight fire with fire? Well…that’s been tried before against Wolves and if memory serves, it didn’t work out too well at all.

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Aguero____________________

 

 

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

 

__________Gundogan________Silva_______________

 

____________________Rodri______________________

Laporte_________________________________Cancelo

 

______________Dias_________Stones______________

 

 

___________________Ederson_____________________

Subs: Steffen, Walker, Mendy, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Foden, Torres, Jesus.

No debate about the goalie – Ederson starts ‘between the sticks’ once again.

Okay…I’ve had a think and I reckon Pep may deploy Aymeric on the left for this one and when not keeping tabs on Adama; it allows those 3 central defenders to shuffle over AS ‘a 3’, which will then give licence for Joao to support the midfielders in attack to help break down our visitor’s defences. When as a 4, Ruben & John are the main, ‘central 2’.

Rodders to return to the starting line-up as our deeper-lying midfielder and to, hopefully, keep alert to any quick counter attacks.

Another left-sided quandary is…does completely-rested [at the weekend] Raheem start or does Phil get that position; a player who only featured for the last 29 minutes himself on Saturday. Well…it’s not always the case but I would say that if form is going to dictate the decision then, in terms of goals & assists in recent weeks at least, Raheem just about grabs it; despite still running down some cul-de-sacs and making some in-the-box bad decisions of late. Now, unless ‘the boss’ decides to go with no recognised striker for this one; Phil isn’t going to be the only disappointed, first-class midfielder / winger this evening. I’m going for Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad as the 3 NOT to-be-feeling left out.

Sergio, I think, will be given another go from the start.

Zack is the reserve stopper; Kyle, Benjamin & Oleksandr provide the defensive cover from ‘the 9’; albeit largely flanking cover. Fernandinho, Kevin, who still looked largely off-pace & precision in his last outing despite getting an assist, Phil, Ferran & Gabriel make up the midfield / wing / attacking options from the side.

Notable absences:

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

-       Nathan Ake – Continues his return from injury; presumably still training alone as I’ve not seen a report to say that he’s yet joined his teammates to step up the intensity. Update: Pep has confirmed that Nathan will play some part in training today ahead of tonight's game and will resume full training as of tomorrow.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Not quite – I think I’d go with a fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 4-3-3 with no recognised striker for this one; perhaps replacing Sergio with either Phil Foden or, even, Kyle Walker; pushing Joao up on the right-hand-side of an attacking ‘midfield 3’ with Ilkay & Bernardo.

Other than that, I’m fine with that.

Result? Since their teeth-grinding 2-3 home defeat to local rivals - and league-strugglers - West Bromwich Albion in mid-January and apart from a 1-0 away defeat to Crystal Palace at the end of that same month; our visitors tonight (8:00pm KO GMT) have hit some decent form; whereby they’ve picked up a more-than-decent 11 points from 15. They don’t score loads but, as we’ve come to know from a Nuno side; they can be hard-working and very organised both in midfield as well as at the back.

They’re actually in their best form of the season after a largely disappointing first half of…

Yes, fellow Blues, this is likely gonna be ANOTHER game where we have to keep banging hard on the oppo’s door(s) for a while before we break through, whilst at the same time beware of break-aways; especially with some pace in their attack not least from - but not only - the afore-mentioned, Adama Traore.

And, I’m sure I don’t have to remind most Blues, they have a horrible habit of not-only sharing the points with us in recent seasons but also taking home all 3! All credit and well done to them too.

But I think our manager knows our opponents’ threats very well now, along with what his ‘opposite number’ has done to us in the past in order to take points off us. He’ll have been reviewing past footage of our encounters as well as footage of Wolves’ recent, in-form games – he’ll have fully prepared his players for all eventualities, I’m sure of it.

And despite their best form of the season, I don’t think The Wanderers are quite the side they have been in recent season and certainly don’t appear quite as threatening since losing both Diogo Jota & Raul Jimenez through both sale & bad injury respectively.

Tough game ahead? Yes. Will it be another close scoreline? Yeah, I think it might-well be. Will we win? That’s what I’m going for - 21 straight wins and, for around 22 hours at least, 15 points clear at the top of the table. Who, seriously, 2 months into the season at the end of November thought that we’d be able to say that 3 months later?!

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: A chill is in the air again. Although only light, the wind direction has changed recently; leaving a more-wintery feel once again, following a few days of spring-like weather. It’s gonna be dry, at least, but the KO temperature will show as just 3C. No conditions that will affect the game though but some players might decide to wear gloves tonight, whilst some working OFF the pitch might just fancy a half-time hot drink.