Four changes for Villarreal clash | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has made four changes for this evening's Champions League game against Villarreal.

Recalled are Rico Lewis, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol and Bernardo.

Making way are Nico O'Reilly, Tijjani Reijnders, Phil Foden and Oscar Bobb

The City boss has a particularly strong bench at his disposal, should he require it.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol, Nico, Lewis, Bernardo (C), Savinho, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Ake, Marmoush, Kovacic, Cherki, Bettinelli, Ait-Nouri, O'Reilly, Foden, Bobb

VILLARREAL XI: Luiz Junior, Mourino, Foyth (C), Renato Veiga, Pedraza, Gueye, Partey, Comesana, Buchanan, Pepe, Mikautadze

Subs: Conde, Tenas, Altimira, Marin, Solomon, Moreno, Parejo, Akhomach, Moleiro, Oluwaseyi, Perez, Cardona

Tactics/Formation

Gianluigi Donnarumma is likely to have Matheus Nunes and Josko Gvardiol as his right and left full-backs respectively.

Nico Gonzalez will take up the anchor role in midfield, with Bernardo and Rico Lewis making up the central trio.

Savinho and Jeremy Doku will flank Erling Haaland in attack.

Blues will heed Monaco warning

The reaction of our players after the 2-2 draw with Monaco looked more as though we had lost the game against the Ligue 1 side.

City looked in control of our last group phase game for much of the contest before conceding a late penalty and being forced to settle for a point.

Last season,  a run of four games meant we scraped a knockout phase game against Real Madrid before exiting the competition.

This season, the new format and the jeopardy it can produce will  be front and centre in the Blues' thinking, which means getting as many points on the board as quickly as possible is crucial.

If we can head home with three points in the bag and two successive home fixtures to come in our next Champions League games, we will be in a strong position for our target of automatic Round of 16 qualification.

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Stats & Facts

Villarreal and City’s two previous meetings came in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2011-12, with the English side winning both fixtures in that edition (2-1 at home, 3-0 away).

City have only won four of their 14 away games against Spanish teams in the UEFA Champions League (29% - D3 L7). Only against French opponents (25% - 2/8) do they have a lower win percentage away to teams from one nation in the competition (min.3 games).

City boss Pep Guardiola has never lost against Villarreal in his managerial career, facing them on eight occasions (W5 D3). The only Spanish opponents he has faced more times without suffering defeat are Athletic Club (14) and Valencia (10).

Marcelino (Villarreal) and Pep Guardiola (City) last faced each other as opposition managers in October 2011 in La Liga (Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla). This will be the longest gap that Guardiola has gone between games against a specific opposition manager in his career (5,113 days between the two matches).

Villarreal are still looking for their first win in the UEFA Champions League this season (D1 L1). Only once previously have they had fewer than two points after their first three group stage games in a single edition, losing all three in 2011-12 (their third loss came against  City – 1-2).

The two highest possession averages in a UEFA Champions League game this season have both been by City in the first two matchdays (73.8% v Napoli and 71.3% v Monaco). Villarreal, meanwhile, rank 29th out of the 36 teams for possession average in the current edition (43.1%).

City have completed 1,092 passes in the opposition half in this season’s UEFA Champions League – 523 more than any other side. 74% of their completed passes have been in the opposition half, the highest percentage by a team in a season on record since 2003-04.

City’s Erling Haaland has scored eight goals in eight UEFA Champions League appearances against Spanish opponents, courtesy of four separate braces. This is already the most times one player has scored 2+ goals against Spanish sides in the competition’s history, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (3) and Kylian Mbappé (3).

Nicolas Pépé has created seven chances in two appearances for Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League this season, twice as many as any other player for the Yellow Submarine (3 – Ilias Akhomach). Overall, he is one of only six players to have created 5+ chances from open play and completed 5+ dribbles in the competition so far this term (five each).

City’s Jérémy Doku has made more progressive carries (32) than any other winger in the UEFA Champions League this season, while he has also made the most carries ending in the penalty area (18) across all positions.