MAN CITY v LEICESTER CITY

Today, 3pm, Etihad Stadium RADIO: REFEREE: Chris Kavanagh (Games 8, 35 [ 2 [)

WHEN it comes to playing for Pep Guardiola, position is both nothing and everything.

It doesn’t matter where on the starting formation your name is included. It’s where you move on the pitch, especially when the team has the ball, that counts.

Guardiola puts someone up front on the team-sheet. But they don’t play as a striker. It’s the same at full-back. And few fit his requirements as well as Joao Cancelo.

He’s not just a full-back. He’s a central midfielder too. When City have the ball, Cancelo tucks inside alongside Rodri in the middle and the remaining defenders split into a back three. As with many things about Guardiola, it’s all about possession.

‘The main reason is to have more people in the middle to pass the ball,’ Guardiola said on BT Sport. ‘To have four, five, six players, when you make short passes and have more control.’

He’s also a winger. And, as former City captain Richard Dunne called it, a ‘defensive No 10’. No City player has put in more crosses from open play in the league this season. Many of the chances he creates, as shown by the pitch map (right), and his shots come from just outside the penalty area. Cancelo has taken the most shots of any City player.

Grealish put it nicely when asked who at City had surprised him the most. ‘Joao,’ he replied. ‘He’s so good, he’s a joke.’ Probable XIs: City (4-3-3) Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling. Leicester (3-4-3) Schmeichel; Vestergaard, Ndidi, Bertrand; Abrighton, Tielemans, Soumare, Thomas; Maddison, Daka, Lookman.