Evening all, and what an evening it's going to be! Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur, for the right to play Ajax in the semi-finals of the Champions League! Havesummadat!

Great stuff.

The thing is, with all this talking, if Kevin de Bruyne is on, the rest probably won't matter. It's fashionable to say that Eden Hazard is the best player in the Premier League, and maybe his highs are higher, but he isn't as consistent as De Bruyne nor can he control a game in the same way. If you allowed me to sign one player of my choice, I wouldn't even have to think about it.

They look like they've just come out the cinema.

If I were Mauricio Pochettino, I'd be telling Son and Alli to gang up on Kompany, who lost his pace sometime in the 90s. He hasn't played for a while, and if they can get him on the turn he's going to have a problem.

One thing that's occurred to me about this City side is that Mendy will have been told to supply the width down the left, allowing Sterling or Silva, whichever is on that flank, to cut inside. It's not the same as Sane, but perhaps it shows us that Guardiola thinks the space will be between full-back and centre-back.

Guardiola says he doesn't have to pull he team back because they're too excited - "I'm there! I'm there!" he says.

Guardiola says the teams know each other very well, and City have been working on how they want to play, not on how Spurs might play. He goes on to say that Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world but Son, Llorente and Moura are "quite dangerous" too.

Also not great, but better by a factor of 104. Spurs win the clothes.

So how do Spurs win this? City have so much firepower, and if I was betting, which I am, I'd be going 3-1 to them on the basis that they're just better and also that Spurs missed their chance last week when City were awful and still only lost 1-0. My worry for Spurs is how they get enough quality possession to relieve the pressure, because otherwise they're just defending the box and hoping for a break.

These outfits, dearie me.

I wonder what it is about Leroy Sane that Guardiola doesn't like. Perhaps it's a personality thing, or perhaps he's not enough of an automaton, but it's something because he never starts the big games.

Basically it's another I AM CLEVER team from Guardiola ... problem being that he is. But it's fair to say that if City blow this, it'll be very obvious whose fault it is, because if they just play their game, with their team, they win this tie almost every time.

Spurs, meanwhile, go for a flat back-four but have Wanyama and Sissoko in front, then Moura, Alli and Eriksen behind Son. They'll need to cover the full-backs when City get it wide, and I'm not sure how well they'll hold the ball up, but there'll be space to exploit behind the City full-backs.

So let's look at City's team first, which it's very different from last week's. At the back, Kompany replaces Otamendi - Stones was a good signing, then - and Mendy is in for Delph. That's a positive change - at his best, Mendy is a one-man left flank, and playing his natural position. In midfield, Silva somehow survives, and De Bruyne comes in; I've no idea why Fernandinho is on the bench. And up front, Bernardo will play on the right, which seems like a waste of him to me, especially as it forces Sterling to the left and Sane is an option. I'd expect the Spurs defenders will be pleased with that.

Let's have some teams!