"Midway through the season, Manchester City sit two points off Premier League leaders Arsenal with both sides having won 12 of their 17 league games so far. After last season's disappointing campaign, when the club that had won six titles in seven years only secured third place on the final day of the season, and a difficult start to the current campaign that saw them lose two of their opening three games, Pep Guardiola's team have roared back into form."
"City have options at full-back this year - Nathan Ake offers a pure defensive profile, as he did in City's Treble-winning season, while Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rico Lewis give City positional versatility and attacking quality in small spaces. But Guardiola instead uses Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes in those roles, in part because of their ability to cover large distances at pace in both attack and defence."
Manchester City sit two points behind Arsenal at midseason after recovering from a poor start and last season's underperformance. Guardiola has adapted his system to fit available players rather than a fixed blueprint. The manager prefers Nico O'Reilly and Matheus Nunes at full-back roles for their capacity to cover long distances at pace, contributing in both attack and defence. This physical full-back profile helps dominate defensive duels and recover against counter-attacks. Tactical flexibility also comes through rotation such as using Tijjani Reijnders in Foden's central position and shifting Foden to the left when Doku is absent.
Read at www.bbc.com
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