Are Manchester City starting to build some serious momentum?
On Wednesday night, the Sky Blues demolished Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in the Champions League, with Phil Foden bagging a brace, Erling Braut Håland scoring his customary goals and then Rayan Cherki getting in on the act late on.
Back in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s team have won five of their last seven, including four in a row at the Etihad, rediscovering their best form ahead of Liverpool’s trip to the Etihad on Sunday.
If the serial champions are going to defeat the reigning champions in this weekend’s headliner, which “exceptional” star should Guardiola start in his forward line alongside Foden?
Is Phil Foden getting back to his best?
On Friday morning, Thomas Tuchel’s England squad was announced for next week’s World Cup qualifiers against Serbia at Wembley and Albania in Tirana, with Phil Foden one of the noteworthy names included.
The 25-year-old has not featured in any of England’s last six matches, seeing just 179 minutes of international action, out of a possible 1,260, that is only 14%, since the Three Lions’ defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
His return to the England squad is an indicator of Foden’s return to form at club level, with his double against Dortmund taking his tally to four goals for the season, having bagged only ten throughout the entirety of the previous campaign, not including the Club World Cup.
Following Wednesday night’s Champions League victory, Guardiola asserted that Foden is back, labelling him a “special player”, while Barney Ronay of the Guardian noted that he was the ‘best player on the pitch’, adding that he was ‘perky and precise all night’.
Thus, Foden’s recent performances mean he is a guaranteed starter against Liverpool, but who should come into the team alongside him, thereby forming part of the Citizens’ attacking quartet in support of Håland?
The exceptional star Pep Guardiola must start against Liverpool
In mid-week, it was Tijjani Reijnders, Savinho and Jérémy Doku who all started alongside Foden, but Guardiola surely must tinker with his lineup this weekend.
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That’s because, having recovered from a thigh injury, Rayan Cherki is starting to show glimpses of what he is capable of.
The Frenchman came off the bench to score his fourth goal for the Citizens on Wednesday, having previously netted against Al Ain, Wolves and Swansea.
When he arrived from Olympique Lyonnais for £34m in June, big things were expected of the 22-year-old, with Guardiola describing him as “exceptional”, and his statistics in Ligue 1 last season underlining why.
Goals
8
25th
Assists
11
1st
Goals – xG
+3
7th
Key passes
75
2nd
Big chances created
22
1st
Passes into area
77
1st
Shot-creating actions
146
1st
Goal-creating actions
24
2nd
Progressive carries
106
10th
Carries into area
91
2nd
Successful dribbles
48
13
Touches in attacking 3rd
826
3rd
Average rating
7.6
2nd*
*minimum 25 appearances.
As the table documents, Cherki was one of the outstanding players in France’s top-flight last season, leading Ligue 1 for assists as well as a whole host of other creative metrics, behind only Désiré Doué in terms of goal-creating actions.
This season, despite sitting out eight matches due to injury, Cherki has already started to produce in a Man City shirt, registering three goals and three assists as well as creating four big chances in the Premier League; only seven players have more across the entire division, despite the fact he’s featured in only 163 of a possible 900 minutes to date.
Two of his three assists came against Bournemouth last Sunday, both times setting Håland free to burst in behind to slot the ball beyond Đorđe Petrović.
Thus, this forthcoming Sunday, a similar game plan is surely required.
During their sequence of six defeats from seven games, Liverpool were very susceptible to players running in behind, with Virgil van Dijk not at his dominant best and Ibrahima Konaté largely looking all at sea throughout the entire campaign.
With that in mind, Guardiola will want to pick a team that can exploit this weakness, featuring Håland running in behind and Doku giving right-back Conor Bradley nightmares with his dribbling, pace and trickery.
In order to best supply these other attackers, he must find room for Cherki, who demonstrated against Bournemouth last weekend that he possesses the right skillset to unlock Man City’s other attackers.
In the possible absence of Rodri, Reijnders will be in the team to offer support to Nico González while, as already documented, Foden’s flurry of goals makes him undroppable.
This leaves Savinho, who is still yet to score in the Premier League or Champions League this season, meaning the Brazilian is the most likely candidate to make way for Cherki, who simply has to be included in the starting lineup if Man City are going to become the latest team to defeat Arne Slot’s Reds this season?
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