It is the moment where purism meets pragmatism, where fine art meets the dark arts. Manchester City’s style of football may be as bewitching as anything seen on these shores, as Southampton could be the latest to discover at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, but their success is also founded, in part, on carefully packaged cynicism. Jose Mourinho was the first to publicly pinpoint City’s use of so-called tactical fouls when the Manchester United manager sought to stoke the fires before the derby at Old Trafford last December and it is a prevailing theme that is now being picked up by others this term.

After watching City’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Monday, Gary Neville, the former United captain, claimed that City are readily prepared to commit deliberate fouls to kill rival counter-attacks at source when unable to win the ball back fairly in order to give themselves time to regroup when they lose possession.

It was a view echoed by former Arsenal defender Martin Keown, who suggested the Premier League champions were becoming “masters of the dark arts” and pinpointed their “smiling assassin” midfielder Fernandinho as the principal culprit. Even Guardiola’s former No. 2, Domenec Torrent, seemed to admit over the summer that it was a deliberate tactic in those cases where City have not already won the ball back within five seconds.