Manchester City

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City have been ticking along nicely and stretched their unbeaten run to seven games with victory at Brentford before the international fixtures, so the break probably came at the wrong time for them.

Pep Guardiola will want his side to continue their momentum when they host Everton on Saturday, knowing they could climb up to second place if results go their way.

Star striker Erling Haaland scored another hat-trick for Norway to extend his blistering scoring run so far, netting in 10 straight games for club and country.

Guardiola though may be concerned about the injury suffered by Rodri and he will reveal how long the Spain midfielder is out for when he faces the cameras this lunchtime.

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City will be aiming to maintain their unbeaten run across their next seven games in three competitions before the November international break.

It was at the end of October when the wheels well and truly fell off for City last season, winning only one of 13 games and losing nine in the process.

Boss Pep Guardiola has said his side need to be in the top four come the turn of the year so they can push on for a title tilt during the run-in. The next set of fixtures may well determine how the new-look squad is shaping up and in which direction they are heading.

Victories against Villarreal and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League would go a long way to sealing a top-eight spot in the group phase, while they also have a trip to Championship side Swansea in the Carabao Cup.

But the Premier League is the bread and butter and City have four testing games facing Everton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth before a huge clash against Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on 9 November.

Beating the Reds will provide confidence to City's youngsters that they can go on to achieve great things this season.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

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Looking at Premier League teams' attacks specifically in the graphic below, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have taken by far the most shots, averaging about 15 per game.

But the reason why Manchester City and Crystal Palace have the best attacks overall is because they are creating much better chances, averaging about 0.14 xG per shot.

What that means is that historically Premier League sides have converted the chances City and Palace are creating at a rate of 14%, compared to 10% of the shots that United, Arsenal and Liverpool are.

Brentford are a strange side because while they are averaging just eight shots per game, the quality of those chances has been so high that their attack still ranks mid-table overall.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Image source, Getty Images

The 25-player shortlist for the Golden Boy award was revealed on Wednesday, with nine players from the Premier League selected.

The award, created by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, is given to the best under-21 footballer each year, with Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal last year's winner.

For a player to be considered for selection in 2025, they must have been born on or after 1 January 2005 and belong to a squad in one of Uefa's top 25 leagues.

Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have both been selected after their breakthrough seasons in 2024-25.

Lewis-Skelly played 40 times across all competitions and also made his England senior debut, while Nwaneri appeared 37 times and scored nine goals.

Chelsea are represented twice, with summer arrivals Estevao, who scored his first goal for the club with a dramatic late winner against Liverpool before the international break, and defender Jorrel Hato making the shortlist.

Tottenham Hotspur also feature, with midfielders Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray being chosen.

Manchester United defender Leny Yoro, Manchester City full-back Nico O'Reilly and Liverpool centre half Giovanni Leoni - a wildcard choice - have also been selected.

An international jury of 50 journalists will decide the winner, which will be revealed at a news conference in November.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League table is starting to take shape and while results are obviously what matter most, they don't tell the whole story in terms of how teams have been playing so far.

Expected goals (xG) tells us how much teams have been dominating games by creating lots of good chances up front and restricting opponents to few, bad ones at the back.

Penalties are excluded because they distort a team's numbers on how threatening or vulnerable they are in general, especially at this early stage.

Below is a graphic showing how good teams have been in attack and defence, with the most dominant teams in the top-right corner and the least impressive in the bottom-left corner.

Arsenal and Manchester City have been the most dominant sides, with the Gunners having the best defence and fourth-best attack and City the joint-best attack and fourth-best defence.

High-flying Crystal Palace are the only side to rival City's attacking threat, while Newcastle are living up to their name by being almost as impregnable at the back as Arsenal.

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have one of the top five attacks in the league but worryingly also rank in the bottom five defensively.

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Liverpool's back-to-back defeats following five straight wins gives a more accurate picture of how they have been playing, while Tottenham have needed to be very efficient to make up for their lack of dominance in games.

Aston Villa's early-season struggles are no longer to do with finishing - they have now scored six non-penalty goals from an xG of 6.0 - but simply because they have not been playing well.

While promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland have adapted quite well to the top-flight, Burnley have struggled to make the jump so far with both the worst attack and the worst defence.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

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Manchester City's brilliant 25-year-old Phil Foden was, along with Jude Bellingham, a stand-out exclusion from Thomas Tuchel's squad for the friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga.

Foden, who has won two caps under Tuchel, has been rebuilding form and confidence with an excellent start to the season after a poor campaign last term.

And he will do all this with his sights set on the World Cup.

He was a permanent fixture in Sir Gareth Southgate's plans up to Euro 2024, but getting Foden and Bellingham in the same team was often a struggle and never felt like a neat fit at the time, with the former often out on the left rather than his preferred central role.

No-one, least of all Tuchel, can ignore Foden's talent, but he must continue to impress to reclaim what was once an automatic place in England's squad.

Like Cole Palmer, Foden operates in what is now a congested place under Tuchel, whether it is in the centre or pushed out wide.

Never rule a player of Foden's quality out, but he has a fight on his hands to make England's World Cup squad.

Read the full list here

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In the second part of Wednesday's Q&A with BBC Sport's Manchester City reporter Shamoon Hafez, we look at a potential transfer target and the impact of Nico O'Reilly.

Simon asked: Do you think, like I do, we should be in the race for Adam Wharton? Regardless of what happens with Rodri, he would be a fantastic addition to our team and would learn from the master at the same time?

Shamoon answered: Wharton is, no doubt, a fantastic footballer but Crystal Palace supporters won't be happy with you trying to sell him!

That said, he is technically gifted and a brilliant passer of the ball, and will surely make a move to a 'bigger' club one day.

That may prove to be too good to turn down, but would he want to leave Palace at this stage in his career?

He is still only 21 years old and the example of Kalvin Phillips may sound some alarm bells - a transfer doesn't always work out.

Andrew asked: I very much like the look of Nico O'Reilly as the apprentice to Rodri - he is athletic, tall, a ball player and not afraid of a tackle. John Stones could also step in well once we have enough fit centre-backs. Thoughts?

Shamoon answered: I am a big fan of O'Reilly and he has performed admirably in the unfamiliar left-back role. - so much so, it has earned him a call-up to the England squad. What an incredible achievement for the 20-year-old.

However, the number six position needs a specialist, having the discipline and nous to read the game and be one step ahead of opponents.

Rodri does that better than anyone and it earned him the Ballon d'Or. Would O'Reilly be able to do the same? With his attacking instincts and tendencies to roam forward at every opportunity, I am not so sure.

Scroll down this page for the other part of the Q&A.

Image source, Getty Images

On Wednesday, BBC Sport's Manchester City reporter Shamoon Hafez will be answering a selection of the questions you have sent in.

First up, he looks at issues around tactics and mentality at the end of games.

Arjun asked: What do City need to do to avoid late goals being scored against them?

Shamoon answered: It is purely lapses in concentration rather than being anything terminal.

The backline were caught out high for Gabriel Martinelli's equaliser for Arsenal, while a rash challenge from Nico Gonzalez allowed Eric Dier to score from the penalty spot at Monaco.

But City have dropped three points in the Premier League after conceding in the 89th minute or later and a further two in the Champions League. They cannot afford to keep doing that if they are to achieve success this season.

Jotham asked: With Rodri injured for now, do you think that the team will benefit or suffer from having González, despite him not fully settling into the pace of the Premier League?

Shamoon answered: It has been a slow burner for Nico Gonzalez's Manchester City career so far but, given Rodri's injury and 17 games still to be played in three different competitions between now and the end of the year, boss Pep Guardiola will have no choice but to use Nico.

He put a steady performance in the gritty win at Brentford before the international break, but probably needs to impose himself more in matches. Can he grab games by the scruff of the neck and act as the catalyst to drive the team forward?

Rodri's injury issues are becoming a real worry now. City have tried to be careful with his reintegration back into the first team but he broke down once again at the Gtech.

At 29 years old, can his body hold up and help him rediscover the form that led him to the award for the best player in the world?

Come back later on Wednesday for Shamoon's thoughts on potential transfer targets.

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

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"Legendary", "pure class" and "on another level" are just some of the terms used to describe Kevin de Bruyne this week.

The Belgian is enjoying one of his best starts to a season since moving to Napoli on a free transfer this summer which begs the question, did he leave Manchester City a year too early?

The exodus of senior City players in the past year has been well documented, with the likes of Ederson, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker all leaving for pastures new.

De Bruyne was also deemed surplus to requirements - despite 16 trophies and more than 400 appearances - and the midfielder, reluctant to leave, joined Napoli when his contract expired in June.

"I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it," said De Bruyne back in April. "Honestly, I still think I can perform at this level like I'm showing, but I understand clubs have to make decisions."

It turns out the 34-year-old was correct in his self-assessment.

De Bruyne has begun 2025-26 in sparkling form and has 11 goal involvements in 12 appearances for club and country this season, with three assists and eight goals.

It represents his best goalscoring start to a campaign and only twice before has he registered more goal contributions in his opening 12 games, in 2023-24 and 2019-20.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have made a strong but not spectacular start to the campaign on all fronts, with six wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening 10 fixtures.

De Bruyne's start to 2025-26 suggests he could still have been a key figure in Pep Guardiola's squad and, when compared to City's current crop of midfielders and wingers, only his compatriot Jeremy Doku comes close to his return of goals and assists.

De Bruyne also appears to be fully fit, having struggled to maintain his fitness towards the end of his time in the Premier League.

He made only 34 league starts across the past two seasons with City but has already started five of Napoli's six Serie A matches, appearing from the bench in the other.

"I feel good," he said of his start in Italy. "I'm playing a lot and I'm in good shape."

Read more on De Bruyne's fine start to the season

Freddie Pye
Fan writer

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When Rayan Ait-Nouri arrived in a big-money deal from Wolves prior to the Club World Cup, the scenario was simple: the Algeria international would immediately become Pep Guardiola's new first-choice left-back.

In 2024-25, both Josko Gvardiol and Nico O'Reilly had impressed there at various times, but the signing of a new natural option would enable the former to play at centre-back and the latter to perhaps gain more opportunities in midfield.

However, an injury to Ait-Nouri in the third game of the season presented O'Reilly with an even greater opportunity to shine at left-back, and came at a time when he was also celebrating a new long-term contract until 2030.

The 20-year-old is tactically aware, brave in possession and has the physicality to compete in shoulder-to-shoulder duels and aerial battles. Alongside this, he retains both attacking finesse and defensive awareness, having come through the academy as a box-to-box midfielder.

Perhaps the best reflection of the defensive strength that O'Reilly has brought is shown by the statistic that Pep Guardiola's side are yet to lose a single Premier League match where he has started.

Given he has now received his first call-up to Thomas Tuchel's England squad, there is certainly work to be done for Ait-Nouri to regain his place and many would say the position is the Englishman's to lose.

Given the hectic nature of Manchester City's forthcoming fixture list, both players will undoubtedly get their fair share of minutes, but the real question is who will be preferred when bigger contests arrive?

For now, my money is on O'Reilly. That challenge could bring the best out of Ait-Nouri as he builds up his fitness and tries to establish himself once more, after a promising start.

Find more from Freddie Pye at City Xtra, external

Manchester City, Arsenal and Real Madrid are among the clubs interested in signing 22-year-old Germany defender Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt, but the Bundesliga club will not listen to offers until next summer. (Bild - in German), external

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Even though we are in the middle of the international break, there is still plenty to talk about at Manchester City.

The Blues are unbeaten since losing two of their first three Premier League matches and sit just three points below league leaders Arsenal. They have seven matches to play across three competitions before the next international break in November, which finishes with a match against champions Liverpool.

Do you have a burning question on tactics, player contracts, the upcoming transfer window or anything else? BBC Sport's Manchester City reporter Shamoon Hafez will be answering a selection later this week.

Get in touch with your question here

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Manchester City's Erling Haaland has taken 29 shots in the Premier League so far this season, 12 more than any other player.

That is actually not that remarkable for him - he had actually taken more non-penalty shots at this point in the past two campaigns (30 in 2023-24 and 34 in 2024-25).

However, what is unprecedented - even for him - is the quality of chances he has had this term. His shots have had a xG (expected goals) value of 0.27 on average.

What that figure means is that players have historically converted the shots he has had at a rate of 27%.

Of players to take at least 10 shots, only Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez has had easier chances to score on average - thanks to a couple of tap-ins against West Ham and Brighton.

Haaland's xG of 0.27 is much higher than the 0.17 xG per shot he had at the start of last season.

In short, the chances he has had in 2025-26 have been notably easier to score from in a reorganised City team than those at the beginning of last season.

Read more on Haaland's start to the season here

Kalvin Phillip could potentially swap Manchester City for Everton, with the Toffees are looking into a January move for the midfielder. (Football Insider, external)

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Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva is set to leave the club at the end of the season, with a number of Saudi clubs and Portugal giants Benfica interested in the 31-year-old Portugal international. (GiveMeSport), external

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Watch England and Manchester City defender John Stones explain how and why he considered retiring last season because of injuries that left him in a "very difficult place".

The 31-year-old made just 11 Premier League appearances because of foot and hamstring issues, the latter ending his season in February.

"Last season was very tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping," Stones told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I didn't want to do it. I had had enough of being so professional and trying to do everything right in my power, to then keep breaking down and not having the answers. It was a very difficult place to be in.

"There comes a point where you don't know why it happens and it is even harder when you put in so much effort, or you are ultra professional, to be able to play and be available."

Injuries have prevented Stones from making more than 27 appearances in a single league campaign for City since joining from Everton in 2016.

Freddie Pye
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

One-touch football, dominant in possession, attacking in numbers, attacking with speed, frustrating opponents and defensively resilient - they were the traits of the original Pep Guardiola era.

Some of those fundamentals remain prevalent, but the Catalan and his coaching staff are now adapting to the tactical tweaks across the Premier League this season.

Manchester City experienced a monumental collapse last campaign - teams looked fitter, braver in their approach towards Guardiola's outfit and arguably had the quality to surpass those in sky blue - and not just on one occasion either.

Yes, City were the victims of a injury crisis for the most part of last season but they also looked lost in their approach to the game. Things were not working.

Fast forward to the latest block of matches, following the September international break, and Manchester City have found themselves again and are unbeaten in seven matches across all competitions.

They have a new-found optimism, a confidence and perhaps most importantly - given last season saw them ripped open by many opponents - a resilience of the sort we have not seen since the Treble-winning campaign of 2022-23.

There is an ugly determination to battle this time around. The 'park the bus' approach at Arsenal has been followed up by a 'bodies on the line' approach at Brentford, both bringing positive results and showing that City can take points on the road with muscle and grit.

That is showcased by everything From Erling Haaland's defensive actions in putting his own 6ft 4in frame in harm's way at the back before sprinting the length of the pitch to outmuscle two opposition defenders, to Gianluigi Donnarumma's goalkeeping traditionalism in keeping the biggest chances out of his net.

Then there is the time-wasting, individual wars with opponents and berating officials for throw-ins not being taken from precise places. This is the fight. It is resilience and it is working.

Things may not be all that pretty at the moment, but it is a combination of City's footballing mastery, perfected by Guardiola over the best part of two decades.

And the best part of it all is that Guardiola, Pep Lijnders, James French and Kolo Toure are still trying to find the best approach to guiding City back to the top of the game.

It is still a work in progress, yet it is all very impressive.

Find more from Freddie Pye at City Xtra, external

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Erling Haaland can score goals in "every way possible", says team-mate Nico Gonzalez.

Haaland scored the only goal in Manchester City's win over Brentford on Sunday to take his Premier League tally to nine goals in seven games so far and make it 18 in his last 11 games for club and country this season.

"Sometimes I have tried to defend against him [in training] but he's unstoppable - so strong and so fast," Gonzalez told BBC Radio Manchester.

"It's incredible. When you defend against it you realise it. I didn't realise he was that hard to defend before. I don't think it's the only way he can score like this - he can score in every way possible.

"He's the best striker in the world and we are so happy to have him here."

Gonzalez is likely to feature prominently for City in their games immediately following the international break after replacing the injured Rodri during the first-half at the Gtech Community Stadium.

"Rodri's really important for the team," he added.

"You can tell in the first 20, 25 minutes that he played the team was top and playing really good. I came in without warming up which is a little bit hard but it was good.

"I think I played a good match and tried to help every minute I was on the pitch.

"We have to keep the same level as these last seven games and I think we can also improve a lot because we are a top team. I hope after the international break all the players are available and I think if we can keep improving we will end the season in a really good position.

"You have to suffer every game, all the teams are really good. Every year the quality of the players and the teams are getting better but we are used to it and if you want to win the league you have to win games like this."

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Crystal Palace plan to offer Adam Wharton a new contract to try to ward off interest from Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City in the 21-year-old England midfielder. (Mail), external

Manchester City have no intention of selling Spain midfielder Rodri, 29, to Real Madrid for any price. (Teamtalk), external

Barcelona and Juventus have concrete plans to sign Manchester City's Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva, 31, while Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Ahli, Al-Qadsiah and Al-Nassr are preparing substantial offers for a player whose contract ends in 2026. (Caught Offside), external

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