Like many, when the Manchester City team-sheet came out ahead of their match with Arsenal, I was scratching my head as to who was playing where.

Was it three at the back? Was Fernandinho or Gundogan playing at left-back or centre-back? Why had he decided to leave John Stones on the bench and play an extra midfielder?

Once kick off came it seemed as though Fernandinho had been slotted into central defence, with Laporte taking the left-back berth in the standard Pep Guardiola at City 4-3-3.

Again the question of why John Stones had been left on the bench was raised, as he is the natural option, but as the match played out the (over)thinking behind the decision became clearer.

Fernandinho’s task was essentially to play in two positions: as a central defender when Arsenal had the ball; and when City had possession, as they did for the majority of the match, he was to push forward into his normal role at the base of midfield.

This changed City’s formation depending on who was in possession, from the standard 4-3-3 when defending into a formation ironically invented by a former Arsenal manager that became the go-to in England for roughly 40 years; the W-M.

When Alf Ramsey first deployed the W-M at Arsenal in the 1920s it was in reaction to changes to the offside rule making an extra defender crucial, but here Guardiola went in the opposite direction, sacrificing instead of adding a defender.

When Fernandinho moved forward he joined Gundogan at the back of the City midfield, with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne playing ahead of them.

Meanwhile Otamendi was left alone at the centre of defence, while Walker and Laporte either side of him played narrower but still found chances to get forward, as shown by Laporte’s excellent assist for Aguero’s opener.

It was a risky move, as leaving Nicolas Otamendi as the sole central defender against Lacazette and Aubameyang could have backfired spectacularly, but City dominated in midfield and Arsenal struggled to get the ball forward quickly enough to get their strikers one on one with Otamendi.

Whilst it may have worked here, against teams that are more adept at getting the ball into their forwards at speed it could prove costly and, worryingly for City fans, Guardiola seems to have a tendency of overthinking and over-complicating against bigger sides.

Rather than sticking to the game-plan that has so often blown teams away in recent times, Pep tries to be clever and surprise teams as he did in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool last season, where the same defensive three were fielded as City chased the tie and ended up losing 5-1 on aggregate.

At the end of the match though City took the three points, thanks to the brilliance (and fortune for his handled third goal) of Sergio Aguero and the inability of Arsenal to ever really get going and trouble Pep’s side.

The title race is very much heating up.