Manchester City continued their domination at the top of the table in the Premier League with a 4-0 win over West Ham on Saturday. Leroy Sane’s brace combined with goals from David Silva and Raheen Sterling guaranteed all three points for the Citizens, marking a solid return from the international break.
Manchester City absolutely destroyed the Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchdays 3 and 4 of the Champions League, scoring as many as nine goals against the opposition.
Pep Guardiola’s men are in a goalscoring spree at the moment and it would be an uphill task for any team to stop Manchester City’s juggernaut. City did not have the best of starts to their Champions League campaign, suffering a shock 2-1 defeat against Lyon at the Etihad on Matchday 1.
However, they have turned their fortunes around with victories over Hoffenheim and Shakhtar and the Citizens will be the favourites to come away with three points when they face Lyon away from home on Tuesday.
Given that they have been in scintillating form, it will be a good opportunity for City to avenge the defeat that they suffered earlier in the campaign. Having virtually sealed qualification to the knockout stages, Manchester City should look to stamp their authority on Lyon and finish as the group-toppers.
However, as evident from their performances so far in the competition, Lyon are far from an easy opposition and City will need to be at the top of their game to have the final say. In fact, Lyon are the only team in the group to remain unbeaten so far.
The key to City’s success so far in the Premier League this season has been their ability to dominate the opposition in the midfield. Even though the focus has always been on the attackers for finding the net on a regular basis, the midfielders deserve all the credit for dictating the tempo of the game.
As much as David Silva and Bernardo Silva have excelled with their creativity, Fernandinho has been the standout figure for Manchester City in the heart of the midfield. Signed for a fee of £30m, the player usually operates from a deep position in the midfield as a shield for the back four. The Brazilian is the heartbeat of the team, cutting out attacks with his quick anticipation and carrying the ball forward with energy and purpose.
Averaging 72.3 passes per game with an accuracy percentage of 88.3 in the Premier League, he has been excellent with his distribution, thus contributing a lot to the build-up play.
One of the main reasons behind City’s 2-1 defeat against Lyon was the inability to dictate terms in the midfield, thus allowing the likes of Tanguy Ndombele and Pape Diop to control the tempo of the game in the central areas of the pitch. Consequently, Nabil Fekir and Maxwel Cornet were able to apply the pressure on the backline and the Citizens wilted under pressure.
Ndombele, in particular, played a midfield masterclass, running around with a lot of energy and won the 50-50 balls in the midfield. Furthermore, he has the quality to do something exceptional with the ball at his feet.
And that is exactly the reason why Fernandinho holds the key to City’s success against Lyon. The Brazilian will be Pep Guardiola’s trump card to winning the midfield battle and give the Citizens the upper hand in the fixture.