Napoli saw BTTS last time out as they ran out 3-1 winners over Fiorentina to take their early-season form to three wins from three matches. They’ve scored six goals across these games, and that goal they conceded against Fiorentina was the first they’ve let in this season, though I expect that to change here.

Manchester City have scored eight goals across their opening four Premier League matches this season, but have only managed to keep two clean sheets - against two sides that have started the season really poorly in Manchester United and Wolves.

Napoli will test Manchester City’s backline a lot more regularly with the likes of De Bruyne, McTominay, and Hojlund. I’m still not convinced that Manchester City’s backline is rock solid, and I still also anticipate a bit of a bedding-in process for Donnarumma, which could lead to some mistakes at the back for the Cityzens.

McTominay has already scored his first goal of this campaign having won the Scudetto and Serie A MVP last season. He’s an integral member of this Napoli side and can return to Manchester to hurt his old city rivals.

McTominay has had nine shots across his three Serie A appearances this season (3.01 per 90). He’s regularly pushed up into attacking areas by Antonio Conte who sees McTominay as a second striker which is probably his best position when considering his ability to arrive in the box at the right time and aerial dominance.

McTominay had 76 shots across his 34 Serie A appearances last season (2.33 per 90) with this record returning 12 goals for the Scot. Napoli can look to be direct to McTominay and Hojlund when they get opportunities to push up the pitch which should see McTominay be able to get a shot away.

Foden was back to his best in the Manchester derby, a game in which he routinely puts his best foot forward. Foden is a player who is capable of being one of the best in the Premier League, but needs to recapture some of the form that guided him to the Premier League player of the year award a few years ago.

I’m confident that the Manchester derby can act as a catalyst for Foden to produce his best form for City. He’s got an opportunity to nail down a starting spot in the side with Rayan Cherki out injured for the next few weeks. This should motivate Foden, who had two shots against United last time out, with one of these attempts ending up in the back of the net.

Foden only scored seven goals in the Premier League last season, averaging 0.81 shots on target per 90 across his 28 appearances in the competition. However, the season prior, Foden scored 19 Premier League goals and had 48 shots on target across his 35 Premier League appearances (1.51 per 90).

Haaland has been in fine form in the early parts of the season, as he often is, with his latest achievement being a brace against Manchester United to help City to a 3-0 victory over the Red Devils at the weekend.

That brace took his tally to five goals across his four Premier League appearances this season. 

Haaland has also been active for Norway over the international break, scoring against Finland and then notching five goals against Moldova.

You really don’t want to be facing up against Erling Haaland when he is in this kind of form, with the 25-year-old proving effective in the Champions League in previous seasons. 

Haaland scored eight goals across his nine appearances in the Champions League last season with the forward scoring 31 goals overall. 

He scored six goals across his nine appearances in the Champions League in the 23/24 season but his most notable campaign in the competition came in the 22/23 season, where he scored 12 goals across his 11 appearances. 

De Bruyne still has the quality to perform in these games; he was let go by City as it wasn’t really sustainable to keep him around with the volume and intensity of games that City have to contest, given his age and wages.

De Bruyne has already scored two goals for Napoli, coming across his three appearances for the Italian club. He’s had six shots across these games (2.25 per 90) with three of these efforts finding the target (1.12 per 90).

De Bruyne scored just four Premier League goals for Manchester City last season but his shot volume was consistently high. He had 57 shots across his 19 starts (3.01 per 90) with 18 of these efforts finding the target (0.95 per 90).

Rodri looked assured in Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Manchester United last time out. He wasn’t really tested in the game as United didn’t offer any sort of threat until the 60th minute, Rodri was taken off just before the 80 minute mark so it’s not that surprising that he didn’t commit a foul or receive a card in the game - there were zero cards produced in the Manchester derby which tells you a little about the state of that rivalry at the moment.

Rodri is always the most likely City player to commit fouls and pick up cautions. He is the player tasked with the job of two players in protecting City’s backline and being the genesis of City’s build-up. 

This is why City struggled without Rodri in the side, you effectively have to replace Rodri with two players if you want to sustain the qualities he brings to this very specific setup under Guardiola.

Rodri didn’t play much at all last season due to injury, but he did receive eight yellow cards and one red card across his 34 Premier League appearances during the 23/24 season.