Much of the paper and web talk this morning naturally covers the game against Tottenham with all the usual suspects and 'card tricks' mentioned and commented upon.

However, as these will be out of date by early afternoon we thought we would highlight a couple of the more unusual pieces that surfaced.

That generally these days means Mario Balotelli and there is a humdinger in the Daily Star on Sunday revealing that he is to be the subject of an opera.

The story is written by Asher McShane who tells readers about the scheme.

“Composer Patrick Knowles plans to write the work about the player who has earned cult status among Blues fans for his antics. The first piece of the musical has already been penned and is called 'Balotelli – Why Always Me?’, says the article.

“It was inspired by the T-shirt worn by the striker during City’s 6-1 derby win over United at Old Trafford last October.

“Patrick, 65, from Stockport, Cheshire, says the full opera is still in an “embryonic” state. But he believes it could be as big a hit as 'Jerry Springer: The Opera' and told the paper:

‘You couldn’t write this kind of thing. It’s a gift from heaven. I don’t think there’s any bad blood in him. I’d hope to improve the image of Mario Balotelli.’

Some City fans see former United skipper Gary Neville as some kind of stage villain but the England full back has not been slow to praise the Blues since moving into punditry. He is as it again today in his Mail on Sunday column in which he picks five Etihad Stadium stars in his team of the season.

“I sat down to pick my team of the season so far, the players who are in form as we approach perhaps the most pivotal weekend of the title race. And in doing so, I surprised myself,” he writes.

“In fact, I found it staggering that I was picking four Tottenham players, five from Manchester City - and none from Manchester United.

“It is an enormous credit to Spurs and City, given where they both were a few years ago, that they could potentially fill a team of the season. Who could have imagined, say four years ago, those two clubs dominating such a team and Arsenal and United contributing only one player between them?”

For the record Neville has Hart, Kompany, Silva, Aguero and Yaya Toure in his eleven – and Micah Richards can’t have been far away!