City boss Pep Guardiola says Matheus Nunes possesses all the attributes needed to become an ‘incredible right-back.’
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Though having originally made the move to City as a powerful midfielder operator, the Portuguese international was first deployed at right-back by Guardiola last season to impressive effect.
Following the summer departure of Kyle Walker to Burnley, if anything, Nunes’ impact in the position has only been further heightened this term.
The 27-year-old’s most recent eye-catching performances in the role came during last Saturday’s 2-0 league win over Everton and our subsequent 2-0 midweek Champions League success at Villarreal.
VILLA v CITY | MATCH PREVIEW
For his part, addressing the media at Friday’s pre-match press conference ahead of our latest league trip to Aston Villa, the City boss insisted that Nunes possessed all the qualities needed to shine in the role on a long-term basis.
“He can be an incredible right-back,” Guardiola declared.
“Matheus is a holding midfielder with incredible physicality and as much as he is focused, he can become one of the best [right-backs].
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“It’s a question of him now as we talk a lot about that. It’s just change your mind and feel that [you can be there].
“He has special attributions to play in the sides, and in the last two or three games he has played unbelievable.”
Though City have lost our last two league visits to Villa Park, Guardiola’s side will travel to the Midlands on Sunday on the back of a fine unbeaten run that now stretches to nine games across all competitions.
From having lost two of our first three league games, that superb form has lifted City up into second place in the Premier League table.
For many observers however, City look to be flying under the radar with much of the attention and focus instead being trained on champions Liverpool and leaders Arsenal.
For his part however, Guardiola said he was not getting carried away and was instead focused on the bigger picture.
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“I know the pundits and specialists and the former players know what will happen after five games. I’m not able to do that,” Pep added.
“The first two or three games we were out and now it looks like Liverpool is already done but I tell you they will be back.
“Always you wait 10-15 games to know exactly what’s going on.
“Obviously Liverpool and Arsenal will be there, someone else will be there and hopefully we can be there too. ”
ASTON VILLA V City app coverage
Our official app allows you to follow all of the action from our Premier League showdown with Aston Villa from one place.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at 12:00 (UK).
Natalie Pike will be joined in the studio by Chris Samba and Joleon Lescott.
During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Kit Symons while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
We’ll have a quick-hit 2-minute highlights package available at 17:45 (UK), while you can sign-in to watch a free 8-minute edit at midnight.
On CITY+ meanwhile, there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights offering which features the best 20 minutes of action from the game. Both are also available at midnight.
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