Manchester City will be looking to end a very poor week on a high as they welcome bottom place Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Etihad Stadium.
The Blues have been convincingly beaten by Manchester United
and Bodo Glimt since last Saturday and are still struggling with injuries in key areas.
And despite their league position, Wolves will be no pushovers having gone unbeaten in five games in all competitions.
Here are five things to look out for as City face Rob Edwards’s side:
Guehi’s debut
Pep Guardiola confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Marc Guehi will make his City debut on Saturday, having joined from Crystal Palace at the beginning of the week.
The 25-year-old elected to join the Blues now rather than wait for the summer, where Arsenal and Liverpool were expected to make approaches for his signature.
The former Palace captain joins in a £20 million deal, on a wage much lower than the reported figure of £300,000 a week, according to Daily Mail City correspondent Jack Gaughan.
Centre back options are short for City at the moment. Josko Gvardiol is out for the season, Ruben Dias remains a few weeks off recovering from a muscle injury and John Stones has been out for nearly two months with an injury that can’t be explained by the City boss.
Abdukodir Khusanov will likely be Guehi’s partner. Max Alleyne is still quite unpolished, and was arguably at fault for the first two goals against Bodo Glimt, whilst Nathan Ake was poor against Manchester United and has also been playing with strapping on his left leg.
Haaland starting despite calls for the bench
Eight games without a non-penalty goal for Erling Haaland is his longest stretch since his spell at Molde as a teenager.
The Norwegian forward was one of four players, along with Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Rodri, to contribute to the refunded ticket prices of the travelling City supporters for the midweek defeat to Bodo Glimt.
He seems to be starting every game at the moment (including against Exeter City) and he’s running on fumes with no natural backup behind him.
Omar Marmoush is back from AFCON and can be brought in, but I don’t see him as a natural number nine, so I think the team will suffer more in Haaland’s absence than with him.
This could be the ideal fixture for Haaland to get back into the swing of things. He’s scored a hattrick in his previous two appearances against Wolves at the Etihad, and whilst that might be a bit steep to ask from him, if anyone can do it it’s the 25-year-old.
Mane causing City problems
The shining light for Wolves in the last few weeks has been young midfielder Mateus Mane.
The 18-year-old’s form has improved the side from having just two points at Christmas to now being within a reasonable distance of 19th place Burnley.
He’s found his place in the centre of midfield and you can expect him to be the heart of everything Wolves do if they are to come away from the Etihad Stadium with a point or three.
Semenyo on the left
Antoine Semenyo’s first three games for City have been pretty impressive. Two good performances, two goals and one average performance when the whole of the team bar Khusanov and Gianluigi Donnarumma were average at best.
The 26-year-old started on the right and scored against Newcastle, but has perhaps shown a more complete side to his game on the left hand side in the early stages of his City career.
I’d like to see Semenyo start on the left, and whether that means it’s Marmoush, Jeremy Doku or Rayan Cherki on the right, I don’t mind.
All the players mentioned have the flexibility to play across the front line, so things are able to change in game.
A win to end a terrible week and to start an important one
Things were looking up for City after an emphatic 10-1 FA Cup third round victory and a workmanlike performance leading to a 2-0 win away to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup semi final second leg.
But the last two results mean City have come crashing back down to earth. Nevertheless, Arsenal and Aston Villa’s recent stutters mean City are still clinging on in the title race, and I back the Blues to get back into winning fashion.
In midweek, they face Galatasaray, knowing a win with a few results going the other way means they’ll automatically qualify for the Round of 16 as the seeded team.
And next Sunday they begin a week of gargantuan importance. They’ll face Tottenham and Liverpool away from home, with the Carabao Cup semi final second leg sandwiched in between.
Hopefully the two last performances and results will be the wake up call the squad desperately needs to get back to winning ways.
