Mahrez marker
Riyad Mahrez cannot stop scoring goals for Manchester City.
A penalty against Brentford was his eighth goal in his last seven starts for the club either side of his AFCON absence, and he has netted in each of those appearances. Mahrez’s clinical quality from the spot has been more remarkable for City given he missed a crucial spot-kick for Algeria last month.
To say Pep Guardiola did not get the No.9 he wanted in the summer transfer window, and then lost the next best thing in Ferran Torres in the winter transfer window, the manager now has a player close to equalling a club record in the Premier League era; Sergio Aguero is the only player to have scored in eight consecutive appearances in all competitions but Mahrez can join him if he scores at Carrie Road.
The all-time club record is 10 games in a row, held by Billy McAdams who played for the Blues between 1953 and 1960.
Norwich danger
It is as bad a time to play Norwich as it was a good time to face a Brentford team low on bodies and available players.
Dean Smith has galvanised a team that (not for the first time) never looked equipped for Premier League survival under Daniel Farke and the Canaries have put together their best run of the season so far.
They will still firmly be underdogs against the champions yet should be far tougher opponents than they proved in August when they lost 5-0 at the Etihad.
Sporting coming up
City have once again made huge strides during the break between the Champions League group stage and knockout rounds, able to concentrate more energy on domestic games and pulling clear in the Premier League.
This is the last match before they are off to Europe again, but with Sporting hosting the Blues on Tuesday Guardiola must decide whether he needs to make any selection decisions at Carrow Road with Portugal in mind.
Stones importance
One of those selection decisions will come at right-back.
John Stones was the key to City beating Brentford according to his manager, who raved about how he had broken opposition lines from a position that he is not fully familiar with.
It may be that this was just a plan to combat the specific strengths of the Bees, yet with Walker ruled out of the tie with Sporting after a silly red card the right-back spot is up for grabs.
Stones can feel hard done to do if he is dropped for Norwich, having been so important to the win on Wednesday.
Leaving Chelsea behind
Liverpool are keeping up the pressure in the title race, as they are expected to do, but this is another opportunity to leave Chelsea further behind.
Thomas Tuchel’s side are at the Club World Cup after beating City in the Champions League, and if defeat at the Etihad wasn’t the final blow to their title hopes they can only be more demoralised if they return to Premier League action to find the leaders have taken maximum points in their absence.
