The Man City fans in the Tavern tonight will certainly be hoping Pep can deliver them some sort of trophy this season, after a disappointing campaign last time out…

By his standards, Pep Guardiola had a poor first season with Manchester City, finishing third, only three points ahead of fifth-place Arsenal and eight points behind second-place Tottenham.

Starting off the season with six straight wins in the league and playing good football whilst doing it, a 3-3 draw with Brendan Rogers’ Celtic side derailed City almost immediately.

A loss to Spurs followed and they struggled to re-capture any kind of consistent form that could win them the title.

Despite being at The Amex, anything but a win against Premier League new boys Brighton on the opening day would be considered a bit of a disaster for Pep.

Thankfully for City, they have a lot of money and a lot of players on their bench that most teams would trade an arm and a leg for to have in their first team. On that note, here are two players Guardiola must utilise as impact subs against Brighton…

Bernardo Silva

With Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling taking up Bernardo Silva’s favoured positions, and given how well they both played last season especially the former, it is likely Silva will begin his Manchester City career on the bench.

Silva will offer something slightly different out wide than Sane and Sterling, a slower approach with a more passing style of play will fit in nicely with Pep’s methodology and he could be used very effectively to see the game out.

Sergio Aguero

Following on from the capture of Gabriel Jesus, Aguero found himself relegated to the bench towards the second half of last season with only a Jesus injury putting him back in the first team.

Despite that Aguero seems happy to stay at Manchester City where he is undoubtedly considered a club legend and should the inexperience of Jesus prevent him from finding the net against The Seagulls, then the Argentine can be brought on and that in of itself can almost guarantee a goal.

He will look to force his way back into the fold, but it is Jesus’ time at Man City,