We have two live Premier League matches on Off The Ball this Sunday. First up at 1.30pm is Manchester United's trip to Leicester, followed by the big one between Manchester City and Chelsea at 4pm.
That game and the tactics employed by both managers will be fascinating...
Manchester City v Chelsea
Manchester City might have won the Premier League title at the end of last season's exciting campaign. But the main asterisk against Manuel Pellegrini's side was that they were tactically outwitted by Jose Mourinho's Chelsea home and away, losing both games.
The second match proved to be a masterclass of counter-attacking football as Mourinho's tactics won out.
The Chelsea boss has always been a reactive manager at heart and traits like that can never be fully shaken. But on paper, he has less reason to be quite so reactive this time given the more potent weapons at his disposal in the league's top scorer Diego Costa and the top assists provider Cesc Fabregas.
Those two will start at the Etihad but the question is how Mourinho will look to deploy the other options around them. Based on his philosophy and mindset, it would be no surprise if the self-styled Special One was more cautious again.
Thus far this season, he has often started with a more attacking midfield with Nemenja Matic as the de-facto holder with Fabregas and Oscar in advance of him. The nine-goal thriller against Everton was an exception as the more box-to-box running of the 'Blue Kenyan' Ramires started in place of Oscar.
Let the lad eat cake?
Whether it's a coincidence or not, the Blues have been a little leaky at the back, conceding six times, and that will be a slight concern for Mourinho. I would not be surprised if Ramires was brought in to provide more vertical running.
Pellegrini will also have his own worries however, given the way that Chelsea overcame them last season. But the Chilean now has the option to play a more hard-running three-man central midfield with Brazilian pair Fernandinho and Fernando providing protection.
That could free up Yaya Toure - whose defensive work has been criticised - to play a little further, although a No 10-esque role would not suit him. He just needs space to charge into rather than picking up the ball further forward, as well as the extra defensive protection to make up for his lack of tracking back in the bigger gamers. Perhaps placing a birthday cake on the D outside his own box may be an incentive that Pellegrini could invest in - if Financial Fair Play allows of course!
On a more serious note, if he goes for that uber-physical three-man midfield, Pellegrini will have to choose two from Jesus Navas, David Silva and Samir Nasri to fill the wide roles.
The latter duo's propensity to cut inside from the flanks would leave Mourinho licking his lips and encouraging his full-backs to make use of the space left behind on the break.
Navas' pace on one wing would at least push the opposition full-back onto his heels.
The other option is to start with the same formation against Bayern Munich with Navas, Silva and Nasri all starting. But that would require Toure to track back.
Mourinho favours physicality so it might be worth trying to outfight Chelsea with a more robust central midfield.
As for the weekend's other matches...
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Expect Aston Villa to play like the away side, sitting deep and using the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Wiemann on the break. They have only averaged 37 per cent possession this season and that is even lower than the already small average of 44 per cent from the last campaign.
Arsenal's confidence will be fragile after the defeat at Borussia Dortmund and given their shaky start to the season, a win is of paramount importance.
It would be no surprise if Danny Welbeck is given another opportunity to try and breaking his Arsenal scoring duck, but it will be interesting to see how the crack team of attacking midfielders behind him will be deployed. Could Mesut Ozil, who Arsene Wenger has been backing to the hilt, return to a more central starting position?
Leicester City v Manchester United
For once, Man United have not had to worry about rotating the squad to factor in European games and will travel to the King Power stadium in a more positive frame of mind after their diamond glittered against QPR last Sunday.
The question is whether Louis Van Gaal will look for continuity and stick to the same line-up and tactics against a Leicester side who have played a 4-4-2 in their home games.
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