Ansu Fati has been really bright in limited minutes for Monaco this season, netting four goals for the club across just 97 minutes of action in Ligue 1 and the Champions League. He’s done enough to be rewarded with a start here, especially when considering the absences that Monaco are contending with across their attacking line at the moment. 

Fati came off the bench in Monaco’s 4-1 defeat to Club Brugge last time out and had two shots on target in just 17 minutes of action. One of those efforts ended up in the back of the net, and he can be a real threat to City here with his speed and willingness to run in behind.

Fati struggled for minutes last season but still posted promising shots and shots on target numbers. He had 12 shots across his 232 minutes of football in La Liga last season (4.66 per 90) with five of those attempts finding the target (1.94 per 90). If we go back even further to the 23/24 season, Fati had 11 shots on target across just 513 minutes of football for Brighton in the Premier League that season (1.93 per 90).

I’m still far from convinced when it comes to the effectiveness of Manchester City’s defensive set up. They’ll be without Abdukodir Khusanov and Rayan Ait-Nouri here, which adds an extra layer of complication for Pep Guardiola as he attempts to assemble a solid backline.

Rodri is also set to miss this game, so three players that Guardiola would almost certainly start in this game are missin,g and I think City will suffer a little as a result. City have failed to keep a clean sheet in four of their eight games this season, even conceding against Burnley last time out as they recorded a 5-1 victory over the Clarets.

Monaco can take advantage of a City side that are missing key players in the defensive third. They’ve netted 11 goals across their three home games this season (3.6 per game), winning all three of those matches. They did concede five goals across those games, so I’d stop short of backing Monaco to take anything from the game, but the opportunity is certainly there for them to score.

Foden and Jeremy Doku have been the most improved players for City so far this season. Both look to be climbing to their best levels, with Foden putting in a Player of the Match display against Napoli last time out.

The 25-year-old provided a superb assist for Erling Haaland, which wrapped up what was a comfortable victory for City, with the Italian side reduced to 10 men early on in the game. Foden had two shots in that game, one of which found the target.

He’s had four shots across his 263 minutes of Premier League football this season (1.37 per 90) with two of those attempts finding the target (0.68 per 90). I’d expect those numbers to rise if Foden can maintain his current level, aside from Haaland, I’d say that Foden is currently the second biggest goal threat in the Manchester City side.

Monaco have had at least four corners in each of their three home games so far this season against Le Havre, Strasbourg and Metz. They had control in all of those games which may not be the case here, but they can continue their strong corner record at home here with the threat they’ll offer on the counterattack, a threat which has been increased by the absence of key defensive players for City, including Rodri. 

Despite losing 4-1 in the opening game of the league phase, Monaco showed some positive attacking signs. They had five shots on target, which resulted in an xG of 1.45 and had five corners in the game. The defensive side of their game was severely lacking, with the French side conceding an xG of 3.15 from 26 shots, but for the focus of our selection, Monaco are a more than competent side when it comes to the attacking phase of play.

Manchester City have conceded 3+ corners in all three of their away games this season against Wolves, Brighton and Arsenal.

Erling Haaland’s brace against Burnley last time out takes his tally to 12 goals across his 11 appearances in all competitions for Manchester City this season. He had seven shots against the Clarets, three of which found the target and I can see him ending this game with a similar tally.

Monaco were all over the place defensively in their 4-1 defeat to Club Brugge in their opening Champions League game of the campaign. They conceded 26 shots against the Belgian side with 10 of those attempts finding the target. This record will encourage City, who may have to rely on their attacking players here, with key personnel like Rodri missing for this midweek clash.

Haaland has had 28 shots across his six Premier League appearances for Manchester City this season (4.98 per 90), with 13 of those attempts finding the target (2.31 per 90). Unsurprisingly, Haaland tops the Premier League rankings for both shots and shots on target this season. This record, when combined with Monaco’s shaky backline, gives Haaland an excellent chance of having at least three shots on target in this game.

I think Manchester City will be able to inflict real damage to Monaco, mirroring the performance of Club Brugge against the French side last week. This isn’t quite the well oiled machine we’ve become accustomed to seeing with Pep Guardiola at the helm, but there are signs that things are coming together - City have won four of their last five matches with the exception of Arsenal away from home.

This has the mutterings of one of those famous runs that Manchester City have gone on in seasons prior. The good news for Pep Guardiola is that his attacking players are now clicking with more confidence, Haaland is always a goal threat but the likes of Doku and Foden had underperformed last season.

This selection has landed in all five of Manchester City’s wins so far this season, which tells us that they do tend to win by a significant margin when they do come out on top. Their 5-1 win over Burnley last time out will fill them with confidence against a side that lost by three goals on the opening matchday of the league phase. 

Vanderson has one of the toughest assignments in football at the moment as he will have to deal with Jeremy Doku who has been electric in recent weeks. 1v1 duels and dribbling have always been strong aspects of Doku’s game, but he’s added an end product in recent weeks which has elevated him to another level.

If Doku can maintain this level when it comes to end product, he could become one of the most dangerous wingers in Europe. Our focus for this selection is on Doku’s ability to win fouls, he’s won 10 fouls across his six appearances for Manchester City in the Premier League this season (2.41 per 90) which is actually on the more modest side of Doku’s ability when it comes to winning fouls.

Doku was fouled three times in City’s win over Napoli a few weeks ago with both players down his side of the pitch in Matteo Politano and Giovanni Di Lorenzo being shown cards. Vanderson will be his direct opponent and has received one yellow card across his 178 minutes of action in Ligue 1 this season. He committed three fouls and lost more duels than any other player (eight) in Monaco’s 4-1 defeat to Club Brugge a few weeks ago.