A player who will play a pivotal role for Manchester City tonight knows the challenge ahead

Nico is the player to step into Rodri’s role tonight. He played superbly in the heart of Manchester City’s midfield earlier this season. Nico’s performances showed that Manchester City has the ideal replacement for Rodri in their squad. Not having adequate cover for Rodri has been an issue for Manchester City in years past. It isn’t an issue now due to Nico and his rise.

Also, if Nico starts, Pep Guardiola doesn’t have to change the system that has served Manchester City so well recently. Nico slots into Rodri’s role perfectly, so his selection in Manchester City’s midfield tonight against Burnley seems to be a no-brainer.

Nico has said that City are exactly where they want to be for the run-in.

Ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Burnley, Nico said that Manchester City are the scenario that hoped to be in when the season started. He explained: “It was hard to think a few weeks ago about this position. If you said at the beginning of the season, we had the chance to be first with five games left, we would have all signed it.”

However, Nico knows that City cannot afford to look too far ahead, they simply must focus on beating Burnley tonight. He added: “It’s amazing – we can see it’s close, but we have to focus on Burnley. We will see what happens and take it game by game.”

“We are really happy about the job we are doing. It is 50/50. It’s going to be a nice race until the end. I really trust my team and I’m happy we are in this position.”

Nico has an important role to play tonight in Rodri’s absence for Manchester City, especially tonight at Burnley, as Pep Guardiola’s side knows that they must pick up three points to go top of the Premier League. The Spanish midfielder also believes that City are in an ideal situation for the final stages of this season to try and claim the Premier League title over Arsenal.