During his five and a bit seasons as Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola has always kept us guessing pre-match as to what his team selection will look like.
The positions of goalkeeper and defenders have always been fairly nailed on, but it has been the attackers that Guardiola has been only too happy to chop and change from game to game.
However, this season Pep has been unusually consistent in his choices, no more so than in the right-wing role.
A pattern has emerged; Gabriel Jesus plays in the Premier League while Riyad Mahrez plays in the Champions League. But why?
Keeping the width
Jesus has started nine of City's eleven Premier League fixtures this season, while Mahrez has done so only twice. While the Brazilian's impressive performances in the opening weeks of the campaign gave Guardiola no reason to drop him, there is a tactical explanation as to why he has kept his spot ever since.
In league fixtures, particularly those played at the Etihad Stadium, City often comes up against low-block defences or even back fives. This is a reality of the superstar quality of City's attack - many opposition managers see a defence-first, attack-second approach as the best way to avoid a mauling.
Both defensive set-ups result in congested central areas, meaning that City's best chance of finding a route to goal involved attacking via the flanks.
"Against a back five when you go to the byline you break all the back five," Guardiola explained when quizzed on his team selection for City's 2-0 Manchester derby win.
"In those positions [wingers] you make actions to the byline and you drop them and you can make your attacks more efficient."
In short, deploying inverted wingers (left-footer on the right-wing, right-footer on the left) makes your attacks more narrow as the winger has to cut inside onto his stronger foot. This action also costs valuable milliseconds, in which time defensive units can regroup and position themselves.
Unlike Mahrez, Jesus is not an inverted winger. He is a more traditional wide player, who can get to the byline and cross with his right foot.
"Some players when they get the ball in more wide positions, their body shape is more open and they have more time to make the right decision", Guardiola said of Jesus back in August.
Against tightly packed Premier League defences, Jesus offers something that Mahrez does not.
Champions League chaos
In contrast to his domestic fortunes, Mahrez has been Guardiola's go-to option in the Champions League.
The Algeria international has played the full ninety minutes in three of City's four European games, while Jesus has played a combined total of just 43 minutes.
It would be lazy to assume that Guardiola is merely giving Mahrez minutes in the games he cares less about - everyone knows how important the Champions League is to the Catalan.
The reason might be that the nature of elite European football suits Mahrez better than it does Jesus.
Due to the fact that there are only six games in the group stage, and straight knock-out ties thereafter, teams rarely sit deep and defend when facing City. They know they must attack, as there are too few opportunities to collect points to waste.
That means that teams can't employ a low block, meaning that City doesn't have to fixate on exploiting the wide areas in quite the same way.
This creates more open games that afford Mahrez the time to cut inside on his left foot and still catch defenders out of position. While City's have struggled defensively in Europe - they've conceded seven goals in four games, compared to six in 11 league fixtures - Mahrez has benefited from the relative chaos.
The 30-year-old has scored four goals in four outings, already the same number that helped fire City to a first-ever Champions League final last season.
When the group stage ends and domestic fixtures come thick and fast over the festive period, it's more than likely that Jesus and Mahrez will more evenly share Premier League minutes - until the latter goes to play at the AFCON, anyway.
But until then, even if Mahrez is City's top goal-scorer in all competitions, it looks like Jesus will keep his place in the league.
Do you think that Gabriel Jesus deserves to start in the league over Riyad Mahrez? Follow City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to join the conversation and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
