Man City injury blows set to force midfield changes vs West Ham

The injuries to Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho not only deprive Manchester City of two more central defensive options, leaving Nathan Ake as the last man standing - and he is standing on a dodgy ankle - they are likely to have repercussions elsewhere. Rodri was shifted back into defence after Fernandinho’s departure at Wolves, and he is the most likely replacement if the two Molineux casualties are not fit.

That leaves a gap in midfield, and with City favouring a double pivot at Wolves, they could well do the same again and fill it with Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. That would not be ideal but the fact that the Blues have plenty of attacking options means that the impact stops there - Bernardo played as one of the front three on Wednesday, but with Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus and Jack Grealish all able to come into the side, he can be spared at the London Stadium.

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With four points needed to be sure of the title, traditional logic would mark West Ham away down as a potential draw, especially given the defensive injury issues City have, leaving the Blues to finish the job at home to Aston Villa next week. But the fact is that City’s away record is better than their home one this season, with 45 points garnered on their travels compared to 44 at the Etihad Stadium. They are unbeaten on their travels since the opening day at Tottenham.

They have stepped it up away from home, too, winning their last two away games by four-goal margins, so it will be a case of going all-out for victory.

After his extraordinary performance at Molineux, the world-class Belgian star deserved a rest. He did not even get substituted off by Pep Guardiola in that game,