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Manchester City beat Palermo 3-0 in a pre-season fixture on Saturday
Manchester City's starting XI for their Premier League opener against Wolves on Saturday remains up in the air amid a plethora of options - but three players did their cause no harm whatsoever in the 3-0 pre-season win over Palermo.
Tijjani Reijnders starred with a second half brace and the midfielder could have had four, rounding the keeper only to lose his balance and see his shot blocked, as well as coming close with a fierce drive.
The former AC Milan man made a habit of finding the net in Serie A last season in what was the best goalscoring return of his career and showed his capabilities in Sicily with several late runs into the box.
He took both his goals well and has surely played himself into a starting role at Molineux.
If Reijnders caught the eye in the second period, then Rayan Cherki was to the fore in the first half.
The playmaker was involved in plenty of City's attacking play and popped up across the pitch as he took on responsibility to create.
With Phil Foden nursing a knock back in Manchester and Omar Marmoush not at his best in Italy, Cherki could benefit with a place in the side at Wolves.
If those two will offer attacking intent, at the back it was pleasing to see John Stones return to action and Abdukodir Khusanov showed plenty of promise in the opening 45 minutes.
But it was at right back where the biggest question lies ahead of the opener and Rico Lewis took his chance with a strong showing.
He regularly got forward and his interaction with Cherki and Oscar Bobb on that side looked promising. Lewis collected an assist when setting up Haaland for the opener and he will hope to get the nod for the season curtain-raiser.
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