Let’s start with a piece by Stuart Brennan in the Manchester Evening News.
He says Aymeric Laporte has become “undroppable” for City after a superb start to the new campaign.
The French defender has been in fine form so far this season and has played in all three of City’s game so far, leaving Brennan been suitably impressed.
“With Kompany’s Lazarus-like resurrection, Otamendi’s evolution into a fine stopper and John Stones‘ return to form, City are in good shape at the heart of their defence,” he writes.
“Laporte and Stones are seen as the pair who will take this young City team forward – the former is one day older than the latter, and against Arsenal they were excellent.
“Selecting them as the starters at the Emirates sent out a clear message that the old guard would need to fight to be selected – and Otamendi has been the odd man out so far.
“Laporte has started both league games and performed well, and that ability to switch play is something that Guardiola values highly in his centre backs.
“He even converted Aleks Kolarov from a left back into a ball-playing central man, largely because he valued his left-footed passing.
“When the Serb left City, it was of his own volition, and Laporte was effectively a replacement.
“Like Kolarov, Laporte has to show he can defend as well as attack”
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Moving on to this weekend’s fixture at Wolves and the Sun’s Ian Tuckey has previewed the game.
He has highlighted Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho has the dangermen for the home side, and says Sergio Aguero is in frightening form.
“It’s difficult to look past Sergio Aguero, the treble-hitting tormentor of the Terriers, but David Silva and Raheem Sterling could be huge influences for City,” he writes.
“Spanish stylist Silva is revelling in replacing injured Kevin De Bruyne as the main orchestrator, while England frontman Sterling will be fresh and hungry if he is recalled after sitting out for 90 minutes against Huddersfield.
“Meanwhile, Portugal midfielders Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho have vital roles for Wolves.
“If they both come off at the end happy with their contribution then it suggests Wolves will have won enough possession, and created enough, to have tested City.”
And, finally, Wolves legend Steve Bull, writing in the Express and Star, has given us the lowdown on the newly-promoted side ahead of this weekend’s game.
He says Wolves’ performance against Leicester last weekend was encouraging but admits City’s forward line is a concern going into Saturday’s early kick-off.
“We were absolutely superb, but we didn’t capitalise on our chances and that led to us losing the game,” Bull writes.
“I think if we had gone 1-0 up, we would have taken the game to Leicester and won the match.
“After the way we started, it was very unfortunate for Matt Doherty to score the own goal. I think he is a top player.
“One area of improvement though needs to be our finishing.
“You can say it is unlucky we hit the woodwork three times, but we have got to be more clinical.
“You won’t get many chances in the Premier League so the players have got to go out and shoot like it is the only chance they will get.
“It is a very punishing league, as we will find out against the champions Manchester City on Saturday.
“We will come up against a side that won’t take any prisoners. City want to win the Premier League again and beat whoever gets in their way.
“They have scored eight goals in their first two games, so defensively I am a bit worried.
“But if I was one of our defenders I would also be very excited – when you get players like they have coming at you, you come out of your shell and it spurs you on to keep a clean sheet.”
That’s all for today’s review of the back pages. Stay with us throughout the day here on mancity.com as we continue our build up to Saturday’s game with Wolves.
