How can Manchester City nullify De Bruyne's absence?

Exploit the Wings

The City are masters of playing with the ball. They hold the ball well, by-pass the presses, pass short confidently and come up with breathtaking long ones. These abilities combine with the visions of De Bruyne and Silva to let them largely work through the midfield, exploit the half spaces and create chances.

With one visionary down, it would be difficult to exploit through the middle and the half spaces this consistently. Gundagon, B. Silva, and Mahrez are available to pick it up but they are yet to make their case at scale. They do have the apparatus to try something else.

Kyle Walker, along with Benjamin Mendy, can turn up the heat with pace and crosses

Manchester City can look to aggressively exploit the wings with pace and cross with precision. Obviously, City has talented wingers in Sane, Sterling, and Mahrez to be just that smart and quick to accelerate. They now also have flying full-backs on both sides in Mendy and Walker.

The attributes of their full-backs make it a perfect case for the play. With the ability to maintain the balance at full throttle, the full backs can burst forward and drive accurate passes into the box that can leave the opposition catching for breath.