Man City’s forgotten man makes his case – but even Rodri’s injury might not restore Matheus Nunes

If a midfielder has dominated the discourse surrounding Manchester Metropolis, it’s not Matheus Nunes. Whereas they await bulletins on the state of Rodri’s knee, the Portuguese’s first Metropolis purpose ranks as a subplot of their week. Rodri has an ubiquity however Nunes has develop into the £53m forgotten man, the kind of determine who might solely be glimpsed within the beginning 11 on Carabao Cup nights.

As he belatedly opened his Metropolis account, nevertheless, his purpose proved decisive when a second-string facet got a late fright by Watford.

His reward could also be a return to the relative obscurity of the bench. Nunes has solely performed 20 minutes within the Premier and Champions League thus far this season. Ilkay Gundogan’s return has relegated him additional down the pecking order, making him extra of an afterthought.

If Kalvin Phillips is probably the most high-profile failure of Metropolis’s largely profitable recruitment lately, Nunes is the quietly dangerous signing. Even Rodri’s possible long-term absence is unlikely to profit him straight; the defensive-midfield berth scarcely fits him with Mateo Kovacic likelier to face in for the Spaniard and the rookie Nico O’Reilly enjoying because the anchorman in opposition to Watford.

However Nunes will at all times have Watford. As a result of, on the thirty fourth time of asking, he scored for Metropolis, driving in a low shot from 20 yards. It means his final three objectives have come for as many golf equipment: his 12 months at Wolves, which ended with him occurring strike to power a transfer to Metropolis, solely produced one, spectacular because it was. Rewind additional and Nunes was at Sporting CP when Pep Guardiola, more and more infamously, described him as among the finest gamers on this planet. Since then, there are occasions when he has appeared about Metropolis’s Tenth-best midfielder.

But a sport that kicked off 49 hours after the exhausting epic in opposition to Arsenal ended referred to as for the reserves. Guardiola made 9 adjustments, with simply Jeremy Doku and Kyle Walker maintaining their locations. In what appeared a pre-planned change, Doku then got here off at half-time, with Savinho sharing the workload. One winger scored, the opposite virtually did, with Doku’s early strike organising victory and the terrific Savinho denied a primary Metropolis purpose first when Tom Ince headed off the road after which when a scintillating run culminated in a shot in opposition to the foot of the submit.

Ince was to excel at both finish, curling in his fourth purpose of the season from the sting of the field. It made the previous couple of minutes extra fraught than Metropolis anticipated; after residence attracts with Internazionale and Arsenal, there was briefly the prospect of a 3rd and a penalty shootout.

Metropolis at the very least had a senior defence to see the sport out, with Josko Gvardiol introduced on to hitch Walker, John Stones and Rico Lewis. However they’d begun with the third-youngest starter of their historical past at left-back, with Kaden Braithwaite a mere 16 years and 183 days. On Metropolis’s books since Beneath-9 stage, he skilled with the senior workforce for the primary time on Monday and debuted on Tuesday.

His youth might have counted in his favour when Kwadwo Baah thought he had drilled Watford stage, solely to be penalised for a shove that despatched {the teenager} sprawling; maybe referee David Webb confirmed sympathy for a slight determine. Guardiola had picked a workforce of two halves: apart from the free switch Stefan Ortega, there have been 5 graduates of Metropolis’s youth system however 5 others who price a mixed £300m.

Watford haven’t any such luxurious, even when theirs was a sometimes quixotic assortment of gamers. This was their sixteenth successive defeat in opposition to Metropolis, however probably the most respectable. There was no repeat of the 6-0 shellacking within the 2019 FA Cup closing. As an alternative, there was some defiance in defence, a few possibilities on the break and a second to remorse.

Maybe it was an indication of Guardiola’s all-pervasive affect as Watford tried to play out from the again, failed with Ryan Porteous under-hitting a cross again, James McAtee pinched the ball from goalkeeper Jonathan Bond and Doku put Metropolis forward.

For a few others, it could have represented a missed alternative to get their first Metropolis objectives of the season. Jack Grealish, who scores too hardly ever, was thwarted by Bond. In the meantime, Phil Foden made his first begin since Euro 2024 closing as a centre-forward. If Metropolis have misplaced their resident Plan B, with Julian Alvarez’s transfer to Atletico Madrid eradicating the same old deputy to Erling Haaland, it was the primary indication that Foden could also be primed to face in throughout the Norwegian’s uncommon rests. He stung Bond’s palms with a long-range thunderbolt and had two photographs blocked by Watford defenders however is but to recapture the sharpness he displayed final 12 months. As an alternative, Nunes upstaged Foden; and but relatively extra ideas remained with Rodri.