Man City provided emphatic response to one major pre-season concern vs Sheffield United

Manchester City are three for three in the Premier League this season but were just a few minutes from dropping their first points of the season against Sheffield United on Sunday.

With Pep Guardiola back in Barcelona recovering from back surgery, Juanma Lillo took charge of City just over three weeks since returning as part of the Catalonian's coaching staff. He was not helped by Phil Foden's bout of illness, which kept last weekend's creative spark on the bench in a game where his guile would be vital.

If Sheffield United are to survive this season, then they will do so at Bramall Lane and Paul Heckingbottom's men were not going to roll over. City dominated the ball and the chances, but did not have it all their own way.

Erling Haaland scored in the end, but his muted celebrations after powering in a header suggested he was not happy to have waited that long. He looked to have won it, until Jayden Bogle levelled with five minutes of normal time left.

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Questions have been raised all summer as to how City would react to winning the treble last season, and it is somewhat understandable, given the lack of evidence. Manchester United are the only other team to have done it in England.

How would Guardiola gee up a squad that has won it all to go again? How would the players react to adversity, having given everything to make history less than three months ago?

"We won everything and then we had a bit of a downfall," former City midfielder Yaya Toure told the Mail of the Barcelona treble-winners, also managed by Guardiola. "But that is normal for human beings, you have to have the right motivation.

"The coach said we are fighting against us. We