Silva strike enough for Man City’s Champions League progress

Pep Guardiola has identified Fernandinho and Bacary Sagna as possible replacements for the injured Vincent Kompany in the centre of the Manchester City defence but has ruled out using Yaya Toure as an emergency centre-back.

Toure scored twice on his return to the side against Crystal Palace last week after the club’s long-running row with his agent was resolved. According to David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror, Guardiola is said to be considering using the Ivorian in a centre-back role while Kompany is absent; Toure played in the position in the 2009 UEFA Champions League final for the coach’s Barcelona against Manchester United.

That prompted a change to a back four with Jesus Navas moving to right-back and an equaliser came on the stroke of half-time as Silva turned home De Bruyne’s low ball.

Elsewhere on the injury front, Sergio Aguero suffered a blow to his foot versus Gladbach and the Argentina striker – along with his compatriot Pablo Zabaleta – will be assessed before Saturday’s assignment at Turf Moor. It’s not as if they’ve been falling apart at the back, as Guardiola’s system has helped masked their defensive issues.

Just four of the team likely to play on Saturday started that match, with the hero of the day George Boyd expected to be on the bench this weekend. Of course Yaya can be important, like every other player.

“I am so satisfied for all the games”.

It would be typical of the Clarets to be mauled by a mediocre team and then shock an excellent one just a few days later, in the glare of the world’s media.

“Hopefully in the last 16 we can make a good result away and qualify for the quarterfinals”.

After getting off to a flyer this season, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have failed to build on their blistering start.

Guardiola warned his side that they must be wary of Burnley, who inflicted Liverpool’s only defeat of the season when they won 2-0 despite having only 20 percent of possession. “In some minutes we believed it, in others we didn’t, but we are there and that is why we are so happy tonight”. “What they do, they do really well, I am really impressed about their quality, their spirit”.

The double dismissal robbed the game of what fluency it had, with the focus of attention switching to Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir, who seemed to get even more fussy as the game went on.

“I prefer teams when they win a lot of games”.

City have to win this game, there are significant fixtures in the race for the title this weekend and they can not afford to be off the pace at the start of December. Their legs are faster and cleaner than ours’.