Not exactly a bouncing atmosphere ahead of kick-off. City announcer is reading out the lineups and the noise is sort of like when a few people decide to clap after a plane lands.
Can never read too much into the warm-ups... but Romero and Van de Ven have spent the last five minutes pinging 60 yard passes to each other. Would be surprised if we saw Spurs playing out from the back too much this afternoon.
Instead, Frank has gone for a back four. Is that a brave decision? Who knows. What we do know, however, is that he does have his first-choice centre-back pairing available to him, and that will be crucial to keeping Haaland quiet. In a sense, they have the perfect duo to give it a go, with Cristian Romero the aggressive marker who can get tight to the striker in the physical battle, while Van de Ven has the recovery pace to match the Norwegian stride for stride.
It’s Rico Lewis and Rayan Ait-Nouri again at full- back, so expect the former to drift infield and invert as he so often does. Ait-Nouri will be instructed to hold the width a bit more, with Omar Marmoush on the left looking to cut inside and create shooting opportunities and get closer to the box.
In the engine room, Nico and Tijjani Reijnders continue as the double pivot, but it’s Rayan Cherki who comes in as the No10, and he will be given licence to roam behind Erling Haaland, looking to send the big Norwegian clear on goal with his pace in behind.
We thought Frank might go for the 3-5-2 system that worked so well against PSG but he's opted for a back four and it means Johnson keeps his place on the left wing. Richarlison leads the line in another show of faith from Frank - feels like it's his shirt to lose at the moment even with Solanke back and available.