Bernardo Silva and Kevin de Bruyne give Pep Guardiola an unlikely Man City problem to solve

Against Everton on Saturday, Manchester City managed to do what they failed to achieve against Tottenham a week before: keep a clean sheet, not switch off after scoring a late goal and, crucially, win.

After suffering a last-gasp 3-2 defeat last weekend, a 1-0 win at Goodison Park restored the feel-good factor to a wobbling City side, who had seen their lead at the top of the Premier League table shrink to three points.

However, Saturday's performance was by no means a vintage one. The final results might have differed, but City's last two games have been quite similar in many ways.

Against both Spurs and Everton, City failed to control the game, unable to keep hold of the ball for any sustained period, coupled with a vulnerability to counter-attacks, producing a sluggish performance characterised by chaos and mistakes rather than the usual calmness and control.

It would be difficult - as well as simply wrong - to attribute one single factor to City's struggles. Individual mistakes, organised opposition defences, and brilliant attackers (Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in particular) have all played their part, but the roles taken up by two of City's key players has been as big a reason as any.

It seems no coincidence that in the two games this season in which Bernardo Silva has played mainly on the right-wing, City has struggled to exert control in the middle of the pitch.

Despite Raheem Sterling flourishing on the right flank in recent months and Riyad Mahrez's status as City's top scorer this season, Guardiola opted to omit the latter from his starting line-up for both games, instead reprieving Bernardo's role of 2018/19.

Three seasons ago, right-wing was Bernardo's go-to spot, and he was brilliant, but against Spurs and