Pep Guardiola knows that it isn&apost always easy for his players to stay motivated so it was encouraging for him to see the effort that went in against Young Boys, individually and collectively. A similar scenario now emerges with the home game against their Champions League opponents before a tough trip to Stamford Bridge.
Everyone will want their name to be in the XI for the Chelsea game, and the best chance of ensuring that it is is to perform as well as they can to book City&aposs place in the knockout rounds with two games to spare.
Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish have both hit their stride now and Guardiola raised the prospect of playing both in the same XI when asked about them at the weekend. In fact, he has already done that – in the fixture at Young Boys a fortnight ago.
That proved successful and it may be an idea to try it again against the same opponents to try and bring the best out of each other on opposite flanks.
City have won each of their three games in their Champions League group by the same score this season. Red Star took the lead at the Etihad before being beaten while RB Leipzig and Young Boys both equalised in their game.
The Blues have shown vulnerability in each of their matches and that was on display again with the second-half performance against Bournemouth at the weekend; the Premier League strugglers were well beaten, yet caused City plenty of problems at the back after the break. Guardiola would take the same scoreline again to confirm qualification from the group, although City will look to start tightening things up at the back.
