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• Phil Foden admits Rodri will be a ‘big miss’ during his three-match suspension

  Phil Foden admits Manchester City have a big hole to fill after influential midfielder Rodri picked up a three-game ban in Saturday’s win over Nottingham Forest.

  The Spain international was sent off early in the second half of City’s 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium for raising his hands towards the neck of Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.

  The treble winners now face being without Rodri for their midweek Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle, next Saturday’s game at Wolves and – most crucially – the encounter at Arsenal on October 8.

  Foden said: “He is one of our most important players and he seems to play all the minutes. He is going to be a big miss, but we have players to step up now and we are going to need them.”

  Rodri’s dismissal dramatically changed the mood of a game City had been cruising to victory in following goals from Foden and Erling Haaland in the first 14 minutes.

  A tame affair became fractious and City lost some of their composure before switching to a defensive mindset.

  Attacking players Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez were sacrificed for Kalvin Phillips and Nathan Ake as manager Pep Guardiola took a pragmatic approach to secure three points.

  “I thought we showed a different side to the team,” Foden said.

  “It was not ideal with Rodri getting a red card so early in the second half, but I thought we showed heart and desire – a different side to the team that we sometimes need to show.

  “I am really happy with the performance. We dug deep.”

  Despite making their latest victory unnecessarily complicated, the champions’ 100 per cent start to the season remains intact.

  In an ominous warning for the rest of the competition, Foden believes there is plenty more to come.

  The 23-year-old said: “I would say it is a perfect start, but there are still a couple of gears for us to go. We are happy with the start, but we still know we can get better.”

  Forest manager Steve Cooper was pleased with his side’s response in the second half and felt they should have got more from playing against 10-man City.

  He said: “When you play a game and you get presented an opportunity, you really want to recognise that you have to take that.

  “I’m not angry with the players. I’m not disappointed in any way, shape or form, and I’ve told them that.

  “But I’ve just challenged them, like, ‘Come on boys, really back yourselves, because I do’.

  “Hopefully we’ll reflect on the game and be motivated that we can play in these really tough games and do some good things.”

• Mauricio Pochettino believes PSG stint stood him in good stead for Chelsea job

  Mauricio Pochettino thinks the 18 months he spent in charge of Paris St Germain kitted him out to tackle the complicated task of turning Chelsea’s fortunes around.

  Under the Argentinian, PSG were crowned Ligue 1 champions in 2022 having missed out to Lille the previous campaign after he had replaced the sacked Thomas Tuchel mid-season.

  Crucially he failed to land the club’s Qatari owners the prize they most coveted, the Champions League, losing in the semi-final to Manchester City in 2021 and to Real Madrid in the last-16 the following year.

  It was reported that Pochettino never felt that he enjoyed full authority over the club’s star-studded squad, and was kept by the hierarchy from reining in the erratic behaviour of certain big-name players.

  He left in the summer of 2022 and did not work in football again until accepting the job of piecing together Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s expensively assembled side in June.

  He said the experience of managing in the famously chaotic environment of the French champions helped him as a coach, but acknowledged that the challenge he faces at Stamford Bridge is of a different order.

  “I think it helps,” said Pochettino. “It helps to take things in a different way. Of course, experience is a really important point in football, in how you are going to deal with things.

  “It would be arrogant to say that because I was there, now I can manage everything. The demands always are completely different.

  “But when you add experience and experience of different clubs, different countries, different cultures, I think it gives us the capacity as a coaching staff to help in a better way the players and then the club that wants to develop some new ideas or new projects, like we are now doing.”

  Chelsea face Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Sunday when Pochettino will come up against another coach who knows intimately the unique demands of life at PSG, Unai Emery.

  Emery managed the club for two seasons between 2016-18, winning the title in his second year but joining the list of coaches unable to fulfil the club’s frustrated Champions League ambitions, twice going out in the last 16.

  He returned Villa to Europe for the first time in 12 years last season, finishing seventh in the Premier League after taking over from Steven Gerrard in October.

  “For myself and for Unai, (the job) is not to prove anything,” said Pochettino. “I think it is to try to help (our) clubs to achieve what the clubs want. I never feel that I need to prove something.

  “We (Pochettino and assistant Jesus Perez) arrived at PSG and in one year and a half we won three (trophies). We proved that we can win.

  “But you can win with a team that normally wins when you are in a project ready to win. In that case, Unai and myself are building something. He is building at Aston Villa a very nice project, and we are starting to build a very good project for the long-term at Chelsea.

  “I think it’s not easy to win with PSG, it’s not easy to win with different clubs. We need to give the credit for the coaches and players that win with different teams, because for different reasons, you feel the pressure in a club like PSG. You cannot (have) any excuses.

  “But the Premier League is the most important competition and the most competitive, and if you can win here, I think the feeling for sure that the credit is bigger.”

• ‘We should’ve won’ – Rob Edwards reflects on Luton’s first Premier League point

  Rob Edwards was frustrated Luton did not get the result he felt their performance deserved in a 1-1 draw against 10-man Wolves at Kenilworth Road.

  Luton claimed their first point since earning promotion to the Premier League after Carlton Morris’ penalty cancelled out Pedro Neto’s opener.

  But Edwards believes the Hatters should have converted more of their 20 shots after they failed to take full advantage of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s first-half sending off.

  “I’m pleased but I think it should have been all three points,” Edwards said.

  “I’m really proud of the players, the performance was excellent, it’s a great day for the club, the supporters were great and the players did everything we asked for to engage the fans.

  “We started the game so well, it was probably the best we’ve played since I’ve been at the club. I think the level of the game, the fact Wolves couldn’t get out of their half we completely dominated the game.

  “Overall I’m really happy and proud but we should’ve won.

  “We were really aggressive on the front foot and tried to provoke them and that’s what Kenilworth Road can do.

  “When they get a man sent off you really want to try and find a way to win but they’ve got quality and Neto’s a top player and we lost the ball cheaply. We gave away a goal but to get something from the game after it’s a positive.

  “The lads are flat and deflated because we feel that there was a win there for us today.”

  Luton are still searching for their first Premier League win and still sit at the foot of the table.

  Edwards highlighted the difficulty of the league after a lapse of concentration by Tom Lockyer in the 50th minute was punished by Neto, who scored his first of the season.

  “It shows how good the Premier League is, you have to be almost perfect to get anything from it and today we were close with how we wanted to play but we haven’t won,” Edwards added.

  “It’s like a different sport (Premier League) in every way. Everyone is way better (than the Championship), the decision making, the quality, the speed that things happen and the execution is hard to comprehend.

  “If people look at us as a small club in the Championship then they’ll look at us as a small club in the Premier League.

  “We’re up against mammoths, giant clubs and in a way we probably shouldn’t be here.”

  Gary O’Neil was disappointed with Wolves’ first-half performance which saw them on the back foot.

  He said: “I’m extremely disappointed with the first 25 minutes.

  “We knew today would be a test of mentality and Luton were aggressive and we lost every duel, they were faster in midfield.

  “We had to change the shape and get a foothold which I thought we then did.”