ANALYSIS KEY ISSUES FOR BLUES

REFFING HELL

PEP Guardiola will not be pleased by Uefa’s referee appointment for the clash with Club Brugge.

Spanish official Antonio Mateu Lahoz will be in charge of the group game, which City need to win to stay on course for qualification.

The last time he officiated at a Blues match was in the Champions League final defeat by Chelsea in May, when he failed to spot a brutal challenge by Toni Rudiger that fractured Kevin de Bruyne’s eye socket.

His last match before that involving City was in the 2018 quarter-final, when he wrongly disallowed a Leroy Sane goal with City winning 1-0 and seeking to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit, a year after ignoring some loud Blue penalty shouts in the 5-3 win over Monaco.

He sent off an incensed Guardiola against Liverpool, for sarcastically clapping him as they left the pitch at halftime.

STONES MOMENT

A YEAR ago, John Stones was called in from the cold to face Olympiacos in a Champions League group game, following Aymeric Laporte’s poor showing in a defeat at Tottenham.

The England defender seized his chance with both hands and was first choice for the rest of the season.

Guardiola refused to apportion blame to Laporte after his error and red card contributed greatly to the Blues’ 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace at the weekend.

The truth of his words will be shown by his team selection for this game, and the derby.

PRESSING MATTERS

GUARDIOLA hinted that he has not been happy with the pressing in the last two games.

The Blues were quite brilliant in the way they set about Chelsea, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain last month, but some of the intensity and organisation had disappeared by the time they faced West Ham and Palace last week. They might get away with it against Club Brugge, but will need to get it sorted before the derby.