Ilkay Gundogan’s form has caused Manchester City a problem - will Pep Guardiola risk or rotate?

Guardiola altered his formation last season to accommodate Gundogan and it didn't always work

Gundogan scored twice against Basel (Getty)

Who is the best player in the Premier League who is not an automatic starter for his team? With all due respect to Marcus Rashford, Willian, Juan Mata and Heung-min Son, the answer must surely come from Manchester City. And if it is not Gabriel Jesus or Bernardo Silva then it would surely be Ilkay Gundogan.

Ask anyone to name City’s strongest team and Gundogan would not be in it. Their 4-3-3 is well established, Kevin de Bruyne is the best midfielder in the country and David Silva and Fernandinho unparalleled at their own jobs.

And yet Guardiola loves Gundogan, and given his performance in Basel on Tuesday night it was easy enough to see why. Gundogan will never be a replacement for David Silva – there is no such thing – but he gives City’s play a quick flow. Always on the move, always wanting the ball, and happy to play in the tightest spaces, now fit he is well up to speed with the Guardiola game.

If there was one criticism of Gundogan this season it was that he is simply not decisive enough in the final third. Given how he ghosts into good positions undetected, and given his technical level, he should have more than just two goals for the season. But last night at St Jakob Park he doubled his tally: heading City ahead from an early corner then curling in a perfect second in the second half. He should have had a hat-trick at the end too.

Guardiola was delighted afterwards that Gundogan had added goals to his game. “Ilkay is a guy with special quality,” Guardiola said. “An amazing midfielder player who has the sense of goal, and who likes to go to the box. When I see him play, I realise how much we missed him last season. He was out for nine months, and we missed him a lot. He’s a special player, with a lot of personality. He doesn’t feel the pressure. He’s a top, top, top, top player.”

That point about last season is a surprising one. Because City played their best football last year with the same midfield three they have this year: David Silva, De Bruyne and Fernandinho. Gundogan is basically a spare part when you have those players, even if Guardiola said last night that City now have “three outstanding attacking midfielders”, with Gundogan, Silva and De Bruyne.

So last season Guardiola ripped up the whole team to fit Gundogan in, abandoning the 4-3-3 for a 3-4-3 with a box midfield to get Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne and Fernandinho on the pitch together. It produced some brilliant football, not least the 3-1 win over Barcelona, but it unbalanced the team defensively, as they lost 3-1 at home to Chelsea and 4-2, worst of all, at Leicester City.

When Gundogan injured his knee last December Guardiola could go back to the 4-3-3, City got their stability back and have only improved from there. This season the absence of David Silva has allowed Gundogan to fit straight in. But now Silva is coming back, there is still a sense that Guardiola would like to play the four together if he could. With his team still in the mix for four trophies, should he take the risk?