First to the football, which has been breathtaking at times from City of late, and an in-depth analysis of the Blues’ first goal against West Brom.
The magazine writes: “It was Mangala’s raking cross-field pass that allowed Raheem Sterling to cross to Gundogan with his third contribution – the same number made by Bernardo Silva, a playmaker by trade in a team apparently packed with them all of a sudden.
“Sane earned his goal with four successful passes, equal to Gundogan and Yaya Toure pulling the strings in midfield, while full-backs Danilo (seven) and Fabian Delph (six) were also key.”
The piece adds: “Since Opta began collecting such passing data for the Premier League at the start of the 2010-11 season, no goal has boasted more passes in the build-up than Sane’s.”
Man City v Crystal Palace: Kick-off time, team news and TV info
Mangala spoke to the media after the game, telling ESPN’s Jonathan Smith: “In football anything can happen, but finally I stayed at Manchester City, and that’s good.
“I am involved in the group and want to be involved in all competitions we are fighting for this season.
“I want to help the team when they need me - even when I don’t play I will support my mates and help them to be confident, to help in training.
“I said I want to stay - that was my decision. I know we have so many good quality players, but to win titles we want a squad.”
There’s a touch of transfer speculation involving Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez, with a couple of news outlets carrying the story that PSG are interested in his signature.
“French giants PSG rocked the footballing world during the summer window by capturing Barcelona’s Neymar and French prodigy Kylian Mbappe,” report the Daily Star.
“And Unai Emery’s men may be about to rival City for Sanchez’s signature in January, as they look to create a team capable of Champions League glory.”
Looking ahead to the Crystal Palace game on Saturday, the Croydon Advertiser’s Mark Ritson has considered ways that the Eagles might go about halting City’s run of strong form.
He declares: “Pack the midfield, stay compact and stop David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne from playing key passes.
“Luka Milivojevic MUST start, he has to be the anchorman in front of the backline to stop City’s playmakers. He has to be strong and bully them.
“The widemen are also in for a long afternoon. They need to stay disciplined and track back to stop City’s full-back’s getting forward. And when the chance arrives, get forward in behind them if they have drifted too far forward.
“James McArthur isn’t a natural winger, of course. However, he is a work horse and will run all day long, so he is ideal to track Bernard Mendy or Leroy Sane.
“On the other side, Andros Townsend is likely to come up against former Tottenham and England colleague Kyle Walker. He’ll know him well enough to work out how to stop him. And when he can, get forward when Walker has drifted too far up the pitch.”
Finally, a City kit makes an appearance in FourFourTwo’s run down of the magazine’s favourite football shirts ever - well worth a look!
That’s your lot for today, we’ll be back same time, same place tomorrow!
