This is chapter one of the untold story of Guardiola and his decade of Manchester City glory - starting with the enigmatic personality at the heart of it all...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY JACK GAUGHAN: This is it - the final week of Bernardo Silva in the Premier League. The man who opponents love to hate and a man who would put City above all else.

Fernandinho was a City captain far earlier than when the armband was eventually given to him. His was a selflessness, a dedication to the cause and an insistence others around him would flourish.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY JACK GAUGHAN: We've interrupted Lee Carsley's sacred sessions - when he decides Anthony Gordon plays as a false nine or Cole Palmer deeper than ever.

JACK GAUGHAN: This was supposed to be the reset, the turning of a page, the season Grealish returned to being Grealish. Last year, the post-Treble comedown, was effectively a write-off.

JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM: Pep Guardiola has reiterated countless times that the opposition 'are better' than City. But there is a feeling that they have allowed that sentiment to go too far.

JACK GAUGHAN: How many of them have now walked out on the continent in City shirts for the last time? History says a few at least.

JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD: Fifty-nine minutes went by, this particular clock beginning to tick a moment before Omar Marmoush lobbed City on their merry way.

RICHIE WELLENS INTERVIEW: Only one manager in England has lifted more league titles over the last five years: Pep Guardiola , who will sit in the other dugout at Leyton Orient on Saturday.

JACK GAUGHAN: Less than three hours before Wednesday's victory over Club Brugge, Omar Marmoush was standing on the indoor pitch at Manchester City 's training ground.

EXCLUSIVE BY JACK GAUGHAN: The throwback from nowhere. The sort of player who piqued your interest in the sport when it wasn't inverted wingers and false nines. Devil-may-care.

EXCLUSIVE BY JACK GAUGHAN: The throwback from nowhere. The sort of player who piqued your interest in the sport when it wasn't inverted wingers and false nines. Devil-may-care.

MAN CITY 4-1 WEST HAM - JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD: It didn't materialise for West Ham though, which Guardiola will hope signifies a shift in City's general outlook.

Txiki Begiristain's final market as sporting director is set to be busier than the Basque will have envisioned when informing the champions that he would depart at the end of the season.

JACK GAUGHAN: The last time Man City saw in the new year outside the top four was only four years ago, when they were all the way down in eighth, with Liverpool riding high at the top

JACK GAUGHAN: James McAtee made his Premier League debut three years ago, a three-minute cameo against Everton. The day ended with Gary Neville labelling him a David Silva clone on commentary.

ASTON VILLA 2-1 MANCHESTER CITY - JACK GAUGHAN AT VILLA PARK: Insipid again. Uninspiring on the ball. Lacking backbone without it. We've seen all that before.

Follow Mail Sport's live blog of the Premier League fixture between Aston Villa and Manchester City for the latest team news, live score and updates.

Manchester City's ability to back Pep Guardiola in the transfer market should be further strengthened by cutting the wage bill and posting record revenues in their latest accounts.

JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ALLIANZ STADIUM: They will leave Italy on Thursday morning having lost a seventh game in 10, and sat in 22nd of a 36-team Champions League.

JACK GAUGHAN: Given the length of this season, ending at the Club World Cup in July, Champions League play-offs are two extra games City could really do without.

JACK GAUGHAN: It felt normal. It felt like the last five weeks hadn't existed. Yet they did, they existed in every touch, in every Pep Guardiola moan of anguish and frustration.

JACK GAUGHAN: Carragher said on Sky Sports that 'something isn't right between those two' and Neville vaguely offered that 'something is definitely going on in the dressing room'.

JACK GAUGHAN: You imagine that lengthy period of contemplation had a dual purpose - the coming to terms of what and how that just happened, while nervously wondering about the weekend.

JACK GAUGHAN: You imagine that lengthy period of contemplation had a dual purpose - the coming to terms of what and how that just happened, while nervously wondering about the weekend.

JACK GAUGHAN: Something a member of Manchester City 's staff offered up a while back stuck in the mind when trying to piece together the team's latest capitulation.

JACK GAUGHAN: Will they ever win again? Manchester City found a new avenue into ignominy last night. Three goals up with 15 minutes to play. Thrown away in 15 minutes.

JACK GAUGHAN AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM: The choice felt a bit on the nose but then Pep Guardiola 's signed until 2027 so why not?

IAN LADYMAN: Colin Rosler was born in Berlin to a German father and Norwegian mother. He is a 24-year-old defender with Malmo in Sweden. He is the son of the former Man City striker Uwe Rosler.

JACK GAUGHAN: Shattered at the end of climbing English football's Everest, becoming the first manager to chalk up four consecutive titles. He was done, energy zapped.

JACK GAUGHAN: But after a collaboration with Sony Pictures Television, City's chief executive Ferran Soriano wants them to expand beyond that remit and move into surprising areas.

JACK GAUGHAN: Shattered at the end of climbing English football's Everest, becoming the first manager to chalk up four consecutive titles. He was done, energy zapped.

JACK GAUGHAN: It's understood that senior figures had been tentatively discussing succession planning, while Guardiola received contact from the FA about the England job in July.

JACK GAUGHAN: Aside from the role of head coach, the choice of sporting director is the appointment that City really need to nail as they enter a period of change.