West Brom v Man City preview: Can Tony Pulis ruin Pep Guardiola's run?

Manchester City are currently top of the Premier League and have five wins and a draw from their opening six games of the season in all competitions.

More worrying though is that, recently, Pep Guardiola’s team have been pulverising all who stand in their way.

Their embarrassment of riches in the final third has proven over the past week-and-a-half just how devastating this team can be when it’s on song.

Fifteen goals for and none against in three games against Liverpool, Feyenoord and Watford has sent a chilling message to those in English and European football.

Much will probably depend on the strength of City’s team. If Guardiola decides to put out his whole arsenal of attacking talent, then it could be a long evening for the Baggies.

Tony Pulis will do his best to frustrate City, and there is arguably nobody better, but as Watford in particular found out, sometimes there is nothing you can do when faced with a team this good.

Guardiola has found a way of incorporating Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus in his team, and even though it’s unlikely both will start tonight, just one is enough to do the damage.

Albion will be praying City have a hangover from their Champions League exploits, or that they enter the game too complacent following their recent run of results.

Guardiola’s mind may be focused elsewhere this season, with three other trophies to hunt that are all more important than the Carabao Cup.

But the Spaniard didn’t pick up a single piece of silverware in his first full season in Manchester, so he may not take any chances this time around.

He wasn’t just brought to Etihad Stadium to play pretty football, he was also brought to win things.

Even if he does decide to ring the changes, City’s second string is unlike any other in the league.

Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane, Bernardo Silva, Danilo – none of them started on Saturday and all four can be devastating players on their day.

Those on the fringe are expected to get a chance at The Hawthorns and they’ll be eager to grab it with both hands.

Nobody will want to be warming the bench for this team when their having so much fun out on the pitch.

We’ve been here before, of course. Guardiola’s City enjoyed a false dawn at the start of last season when 10 straight wins suggested the former Barcelona boss was going to walk to the league title.

That never materialised, and there are some concerns he’s failed to fix his problems at centre-back – problems he had hoped Jonny Evans might solve.

But there is a different feel to this edition of Guardiola’s City.

There were sniggers when he spent the best part of £130m on full-backs but Benjemin Mendy and Kyle Walker have improved this side's balance.

Aguero, if he plays, will become the club’s top goalscorer of all time should he score another hat-trick, overtaking Eric Brook. The scary thing is, it wouldn’t even be surprising.

Albion have not always taken this particular competition seriously, but Pulis made his intentions clear in the second round when he picked a strong, attacking team that brushed aside Accrington Stanley.

But that was a different matter altogether. In the second round of the Carabao Cup, the Baggies played at the smallest ground in the Football League.

In the third round, they host the most expensively-assembled squad in world football.

Albion are in their eighth consecutive season in the Premier League now, and Pulis is in ninth, so this challenge will not scare them as much as it might have done a few years ago – they’ve come across good teams who have been in form before.

And if anyone will relish an opportunity to throw a spanner into Guardiola’s perfectly-oiled carousel of attackers it will be Pulis.

“I don’t think we’ve got anything to lose,” said the boss yesterday. “I think City are on fire at the moment and everybody will expect them to be close to winning the Premier League title this year.

“It will be a tough game but we’ll put out a strong team and going to have a go at it and give it the best we’ve got.”

Pulis’s dogged defensive set-up and counter-attacking style is, in some ways, the perfect remedy for Pep’s puritanical passing that plays the majority of the game in the opposition’s final third and can leave holes in defence.

But Albion will need to be at the top of their game to stop the sky blue machine. And it’s not something they’ve done at all over the past seven years.

The Baggies have lost 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two clubs, with the only anomaly a goalless draw back in 2011.

They may take a slice of solace from the oddity that the last time they beat City, it was a third-round League Cup tie at The Hawthorns.

Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox scored two goals in two minutes that night to turn the game on its head following Jo’s first-half opener.

Albion’s team tonight will undoubtedly be stronger than that starting XI, because Pulis doesn’t have a league game to worry about until next Monday.

All his youngsters except Sam Field are out on loan anyway and the 20-year-old midfielder won't feature after playing in the Checkatrade Trophy last night.

Jake Livermore will be rested again as the vice-captain continues to recharge his batteries, which means Gareth Barry and Grzegorz Krychowiak are likely to keep their places in central midfield.

Nacer Chadli and Oliver Burke face late fitness tests on their muscle injuries, which means the most likely change from Saturday’s team could be up front, where Jay Rodriguez struggled.

Pulis may reward Hal Robson-Kanu or Salomon Rondon with a start and move Rodriguez back left, where he has looked more dangerous, or just behind the striker, where he played against Accrington.

But it’s imperative the Baggies find the net, because based on recent history, it’s highly likely that City will, regardless of what team they put out.

“They have players who can play at the top level – from 1-24 they are really top-class players,” said Pulis. “If he makes a few changes, the players coming in will still be exceptional players, so we’ll have to be right on it."

Opposition's dangerman - Leroy Sane

Take your pick really. But if Guardiola decides to rest Aguero or Jesus, then it could give space for 21-year-old Sane to blossom. The German has only started one game so far this season, but a host of sparkling performances off the bench have certainly caught the eye, and his two goals against Liverpool were sublime.

Albion's key man - Matt Phillips

The Baggies will need to be clinical on the counter-attack, so they need Matt Phillips to step up. When he’s on song, this team is a totally different prospect.

Likely line-ups

Albion: Foster, Dawson, Evans, Hegazi, Gibbs, Barry, Krychowiak, Phillips, Rodriguez, Brunt, Robson-Kanu. Subs: Myhill, McAuley, Nyom, Yacob, Morrison, McClean, Rondon.

Manchester City: Bravo, Danilo, Adaribioyo, Mangala, Sane, Toure, Delph, Foden, Gundogan, Silva, Jesus.