Manchester City v Feyenoord talking points

Manchester City host Feyenoord on Tuesday in Champions League Group F.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at some talking points ahead of the game.

Importance of topping the group

City, with four wins from four, have already secured their place in the last 16 but they will want to ensure they go through as group winners.

Given they have a potentially awkward trip to Kharkiv to face Shakhtar Donetsk in their final group game in a fortnight, they will want to do as much as possible to get the job done.

Victory will suffice if Shakhtar drop points against Napoli and City, after thrashing the Dutch side 4-0 in September, should be confident of doing their job.

Maintaining winning run

Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in 18 outings this season and have won their last 16 matches in succession – a new club record they will be keen to extend.

Should they overcome Feyenoord, with upcoming games against Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham, many would expect the sequence to continue.

City have not lost since being beaten by Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals in April. Their overall unbeaten run stands at 24 games.

Make-up of the defence

There is a common belief that City’s squad runs deep. When it comes to the central defensive positions, however, this is not necessarily true.

With John Stones now out through injury for up to six weeks there could be some testing times ahead.

Vincent Kompany would appear to have made a timely recovery from his latest problem but – given his past fitness issues – the much-maligned Eliaquim Mangala is set to return to the fray.

Team changes

It is a busy part of the season with Premier League games coming up on Sunday and next Wednesday, so Guardiola may wish to make additional changes to those enforced through injury.

Yaya Toure has been seen little this term and could feature while Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Danilo could probably benefit from game time.

It remains to be seen whether Guardiola is prepared to turn to Phil Foden, star of England’s recent Under-17 World Cup success.

Winning the competition

Guardiola maintains that City are still a ‘young’ club in European terms, suggesting it is too soon to be expecting them to win the Champions League.

Yet this is their seventh consecutive season in the competition – the longest current run of any English side – and their victory at Napoli last time out underlined the belief the club have come of age.

With the giants of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid not dominating their groups, City are now regarded among the favourites.