Manchester City's tumultuous couple of weeks was bookended in remarkable fashion on Sunday.After being found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules between 2009 and 2018, Man City are expected to face a severe sanction.City maintain their innocence and have appealed the verdict, and at Anfield, their team delivered a show of defiance.Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki scored in the wake of Ryan Gravenberch's red card as City beat Liverpool 3-0 to maintain their flying start to the season.Enzo Maresca's team have won all eight of their games since the Community Shield (in all competitions), but their sternest test yet is coming up on Wednesday.Liverpool 0-3 Man City As the momentum graphic shows, this game flipped on Ryan Gravenberch's red card. Liverpool lose their first game of the season, City have won all six. https://t.co/YNCBRuv3hw— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) October 11, 2026Paris Saint-Germain are rocking up to the Etihad Stadium for a Champions League matchday two clash.Here, using Opta insights, we delve into the key statistics ahead of City hosting the two-time European champions.What's expected?This will be the ninth meeting between Man City and PSG, with the Citizens winning four of the previous eight (D2 L2) and going unbeaten in the four matches they have hosted (W3 D1).Of the teams they have faced 5+ times in major European competitions, only against Bayern Munich (52.9% – 9/17) have PSG lost a higher percentage of their matches than they have against Man City (50% – 4/8).PSG are unbeaten in their last 11 games in the Champions League (W7 D4), though, only once having a longer run without defeat in the competition: 13 matches between October 2012 and November 2013.And their record against English teams is a good omen for Luis Enrique's team.PSG could become just the second team to go 10+ consecutive games against English sides in the European Cup or Champions League without losing (currently unbeaten in nine – W7 D2), after Real Madrid between 2011 and 2017 (11 games).The Opta supercomputer has run 10,000 pre-match, data-led simulations, and it is Man City who come out as the favourites.They triumph in 42.2% of the sims, while PSG come out on top in 34.0%, so it's a close one to call.There is a 23.8% chance of a draw.Somewhat surprisingly, given their recent record in this competition, PSG are only the fifth favourites to win the Champions League this season, according to Opta's model, which assigns them a 6.35% of winning a third straight title.City are second favourites (17.92%), behind Arsenal (21.25%).Maresca's marvellous startOff the pitch, there may be plenty of chaos engulfing City, but on it, they have made a superb start to the post-Pep Guardiola era.Guardiola will be back at the Etihad on Wednesday, as he takes in a City game in person for the first time since he left.Maresca, meanwhile, now seems set to harbour something of a siege mentality, and that was on show against Liverpool at the weekend.City's attackers ran riot after they went a man up at Anfield. Haaland is hardly an unknown quantity, but Cherki was also fantastic behind him, capping a breathtaking, 41-pass move for his goal.The former Lyon playmaker has averaged 4.1 defensive line-breaking passes per 90 for City in the Champions League. Since the start of last season, this is the second-highest average of any player in the competition (min. 300 minutes played), only behind Lee Kang-In (4.5).Then there is Elliot Anderson, who led the way for touches (100), accurate passes (71/78) and successful duels (11/17) against Liverpool.He has slotted straight in since his £116m move from Nottingham Forest and looks the real deal at the heart of City's midfield.And City have had a steel to them this season. They have shipped just eight goals, while keeping five clean sheets.City have started a league season with six straight wins for the second time since 2020-21, and now, they will get to test themselves against the best Europe has to offer.6 – A team have started with six straight wins in just two of the last seven Premier Legue seasons (since 2020-21): Manchester City in 2023-24 and Manchester City in 2026-27. Defiance. https://t.co/fxjmoHPeoM— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 11, 2026PSG clicking into gearPSG have gone from the Champions League's nearly men to two-time winners of the competition in the past couple of years.Luis Enrique's team have not made the best of starts in Ligue 1, but they can probably afford a sluggish couple of months before hitting their stride. They have now won their last three league outings, too.They also started their quest for a third straight Champions League crown in style, with an emphatic 6-1 hammering of Slovan Bratislava last month.In that game, former City forward Ferran Torres became the first player to score a hat-trick on their Champions League debut for a side since Robert Lewandowski for Barcelona, against Viktoria Plzen in September 2022.PSG also recorded the most high turnovers (14) and shot-ending high turnovers (seven) of any side on MD1 of the new Champions League campaign, as well as boasting the highest possession share (72.1%)."What a moment!" YOUR TURN TO JUDGE (ft Marquinhos & Fabián Ruiz) https://t.co/tcD6PGeBHF https://t.co/8AieTp3wwr— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) October 11, 2026And as brilliant as PSG's attackers are, this game could well be won or lost in midfield.Vitinha makes PSG tick, and Anderson will be aiming to stem the Portugal international's influence.Since the start of last season, Vitinha leads all midfielders in the Champions League for completed passes (1,703), line-breaking passes (327) and possession won (106 times).PLAYERS TO WATCHManchester City – Erling HaalandIf he scores in this match, Haaland will overtake Sergio Aguero (36 goals in 64 apps) to become City’s all-time leading scorer in the Champions League (Haaland currently on 36 goals in 40 apps).Haaland has also scored 42 goals in 39 appearances in the group/league phase of the Champions League, the most of any player since his first season in the competition in 2019-20.And Maresca is ensuring Haaland is getting plenty of service.No team made more successful crosses from open play than City on MD1 in the Champions League (five – level with Inter), while their open-play crossing accuracy was the highest of any side to attempt 10+ in the opening round (35.7%).PSG – Ousmane DembeleOn MD1, Dembele became the third PSG player to score 2+ goals and provide 2+ assists in a Champions League game, after Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.Only Liverpool have also had three different players achieve this feat in the competition (Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Yossi Benayoun).Dembele has been directly involved in 31 goals in 41 Champions League games for PSG (20 goals, 11 assists), now the fifth most for the club in the competition, trailing only Mbappe (65 in 64), Neymar (37 in 41), Edinson Cavani (33 in 54) and Angel Di Maria (32 in 54).The post The Numbers Game: Man City and PSG meet in heavyweight Champions League clash appeared first on SoccerNews.