Manchester City are setting the pace at the top of the Premier League with a dynamism that demonstrates a serious intent to reclaim their title from champions Chelsea.

The season is in its infancy with only three games gone - but the aims and aspirations of last season's top six will be the same now as they were at this point last season.
As the new campaign starts to settle down, how have they looked so far and what issues will they be looking to address before the transfer window closes on 1 September?
Good: Good news is thin on the ground but things are looking up with Sunday's win at West Bromwich Albion, albeit without Chelsea being at their best.
The £21m signing of Pedro from Barcelona is a fine piece of business and the impression remains that Chelsea will only improve as they grow into the season, especially with the possibility of further additions before the transfer deadline.
Bad: Results for a start. Chelsea were top of the table with a 100% record at this stage last season, had introduced £32m striker Diego Costa and scored 11 goals in their first three games.
This season, on top of manager Jose Mourinho's problems with his medical staff and the demotions of Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn when they angered him by coming on to treat Eden Hazard against Swansea City, has been a different tale.
Chelsea have been porous at the back, conceding seven goals in their first three games, with Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry looking increasingly vulnerable. Even the midfield defensive wall of Nemanja Matic has not been solid.
Their opponents feel they can be got at - unfamiliar territory for a Mourinho team and one which must be solved.
Transfer 'to do' list: One big, expensive item in the in-tray - namely finding a way of persuading Everton to shift their stance on refusing to sell John Stones.
Chelsea have had three bids, the latest of £30m, rejected out of hand by Everton but Mourinho still wants the 21-year-old England international to be the cornerstone of his defence for the next generation.
Stones has handed in a transfer request but time is running out so Chelsea will need to make their move soon. Everton have been fiercely resistant so far and manager Roberto Martinez will be acutely aware £40m is no use in the bank with little or no time to spend it on reinforcements and replacements. Watch this space...
Did you know? Four points from three games is Chelsea's worst start to a Premier League season since 2000-01 - they also had four points then and went on to finish sixth.
Good: Just about everything. No goals conceded, eight scored and a team that looks lean and hungry again after a poor defence of their title last season.
Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure look rejuvenated, while David Silva and Sergio Aguero seem as potent as ever. The addition of Raheem Sterling from Liverpool, albeit at an expensive £49m, has given City an added dimension of width and pace. Ominous.
Bad: The only bad news has been for their title rivals. Flawless so far, especially in tough fixtures at home to Chelsea and away to Everton. Eight goals without reply in their three games and with £32m signing from Valencia Nicolas Otamendi yet to figure in defence.
Transfer 'to do' list: Looks like the last main piece of business will be an attempt to complete a £50m deal for Wolfsburg's Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruyne - and then it remains to be seen whether manager Manuel Pellegrini wishes to thin out his squad.
Did you know? This is the fourth time Manchester City have started a Premier League season with three wins - the last time they did so was in 2011 and they went on to win the title.
Good: Recovered from a very poor start when they lost at home to West Ham United to grind out a tough win at Crystal Palace, then earn a point from a thrilling goalless draw at home to Liverpool.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech also bounced back from a nightmare against West Ham to show his class with a virtuoso performance in the draw against Liverpool, an object lesson in why manager Arsene Wenger was so keen to bring him in for £10m from Chelsea.
Alexis Sanchez is still short of full match fitness so there is plenty more to come from him, while Wenger believes this is the season when Mesut Ozil - a £42.4m signing from Real Madrid in 2013 - will unveil the full range of his talents on a consistent basis.
Bad: Yet another injury lay-off with ankle problems for England midfielder Jack Wilshere, a central defence that saw its soft underbelly exposed against Liverpool when Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were ruled out through injury and illness respectively, and a midfield that looks like it may be lightweight against opposition of the highest calibre.
Transfer "to do" list: Arsenal fans are still frustrated by Wenger's lack of activity and two areas stand out where he must surely consider additions, even this late in the day.
Olivier Giroud is a good striker but is he a title-winning one? He falls short of that and, with Danny Welbeck not a natural goalscorer, Wenger must pursue more quality at the top end of the pitch.
It costs, however, and Wenger is always reluctant to pay the biggest money if there is the slightest element of a gamble.
Is it too late to prize a big name like Uruguay's Edinson Cavani from Paris St-Germain or Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli? Or maybe even 33-year-old Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
Also Wenger needs a powerful, quality defensive midfield player to lessen the load on Francis Coquelin.
Did you know? Arsenal have the lowest shot conversion rate in the top flight so far this term, scoring with just two of their 40 shots (5%).
Good: Solid start without anything spectacular and three clean sheets in the Premier League despite manager Louis van Gaal's decision to leave goalkeeper David De Gea on the sidelines as speculation continues about a move to Real Madrid.
Van Gaal has gone with summer signing Sergio Romero and has been rewarded so far, with a defence that had also been questioned doing the job.
There have been signs of plenty more to come from summer signings Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, while Memphis Depay has shown his match-winning qualities in the Champions League qualifier against Club Brugge.
Bad: Only two goals in three league games - one of those an own goal from Tottenham's Kyle Walker that gave United victory on the opening day of the season.
United have been a colourless side so far this season, although an efficient one. Questions are being asked about Wayne Rooney already - but he usually answers those.
Chelsea's move to sign Pedro despite interest from United was a blow to the ego and pride of club that labels itself as the biggest in the world.
Transfer "to do" list: Manager Louis van Gaal may seem relaxed but he must find a quality striker from somewhere in the coming days with Robin van Persie gone and Javier Hernandez clearly not regarded as a guarantee for the future.
Usual suspects such as Tottenham's Harry Kane (which surely won't happen) and Edinson Cavani have been touted - but can Van Gaal pluck a name out of left field?
And is the situation of keeping the disaffected De Gea in the stands with the apparent expectation of restoring him once the window is closed without any hangover from the speculation realistic or sustainable?
This must be dealt with before the deadline.
Did you know? United have started a top-flight season with three successive clean sheets for only the fifth time - the first since 2005.
Good: Still waiting on this one. It's been a poor start and even their best 45 minutes of the season, when they went 2-0 up against Stoke City at White Hart Lane, was ruined when they allowed their opponents to come back and earn a draw.
A slow start all-round but coach Mauricio Pochettino is a shrewd operator and he will be confident Spurs will soon be playing the intense pressing game he demands.
Bad: Lack of thrust up front and lack of support for the prolific Harry Kane has been exposed in the first three games and has to be addressed before the transfer window closes.
Transfer "to do" list: Simple. Sign a striker - and most people know who it will be as well.
Spurs have had two offers for West Brom's Saido Berahino rejected, while the player's request to leave The Hawthorns has also been turned down.
There is more to come on this one, which is only to be expected when negotiations are being conducted between Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and his equally tough West Brom counterpart Jeremy Peace, but this does have the appearance of a deal that will be done in time for Berahino to form a strike partnership with his England Under-21 team-mate Kane.
A mouth-watering prospect.
Did you know: Tottenham's Harry Kane has only managed two shots on target in 244 minutes so far. Last season, from his first start in November until the end, he averaged one every 56.5 minutes.
Good: Most things - three games and three clean sheets as Liverpool and manager Brendan Rodgers begin the period of rehabilitation and rebuilding after a dreadful end to last season that saw his position questioned.
Christian Benteke has added physical and aerial presence to attack, while James Milner's solid presence has bolstered midfield. In a defence that was vulnerable last season, new full-backs Nathaniel Clyne and youngster Joe Gomez have given Liverpool a more steely look.
And there may be more good things to come if striker Daniel Sturridge can actually get himself fit.
Bad: Not much so far - although Liverpool have been lucky to be the beneficiaries of two poor decisions when Benteke's winner against Bournemouth was clearly offside and Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey had a good goal ruled out at Emirates Stadium on Monday.
Transfer "to do" list: Pruning a large squad rather than additions. Mario Balotelli is on his way back to AC Milan and Rodgers may try to find a new home for misfits such as striker Fabio Borini and defender Jose Enrique. Midfielder Lucas Leiva has also been strongly linked with a move away.
Did you know? Like Manchester United, Liverpool have also started a top-tier season with three consecutive clean sheets for the fifth time. The last time was in 2013 - and they finished second that season.


Olympic bronze medallist Beth Tweddle has taken her first steps since having neck surgery following her fall on Channel 4's The Jump.

The retired British gymnast, 30, had fractured vertebrae fused together after she was injured while training for the winter sports TV programme.
Tweddle's parents, Ann and Jerry, said she had "walked a few steps whilst being assisted by the nursing team".
They added they were uncertain of a timescale for her recovery.
Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, 26, Holby City actress Tina Hobley, 44, and Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli, 26, have all withdrawn from the show because of injury.
Tweddle, who won five World Championships medals in her career, including three golds, has been in hospital in Austria since hitting a barrier last week.
She is Britain's most successful female gymnast, featuring at three Olympics and claiming Commonwealth Games gold in the uneven bars in 2002.
She won 11 medals across eight European Championships and seven consecutive national titles.
The Jump follows celebrities as they try to master various winter sports, including ski jumping, skeleton and speed skating.
Channel 4 said it had asked producers to review safety procedures on the reality TV programme.
Adlington, who won two swimming gold medals for Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, suffered a shoulder injury, while Hobley dislocated her elbow and suffered two fractures to an arm.


Aldershot overcame Sutton to stay in the National League play-off hunt.

Kieron Cadogan and Adam Coombes both threatened as Sutton made a decent start, but their hard work was undone in cruel fashion just before the break.
Shamir Fenelon and the in-demand Idris Kanu created havoc with a searing counter-attack for the Shots, before Nicky Bailey's attempted clearance went in for an own goal off goalkeeper Will Puddy after 42 minutes.
Bernard Mensah made sure of the win in stoppage time, lashing home after good work from Anthony Straker, ensuring Aldershot remain seventh and within reach of the play-off places.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Aldershot Town 2, Sutton United 0.
Second Half ends, Aldershot Town 2, Sutton United 0.
Goal!  Aldershot Town 2, Sutton United 0. Bernard Mensah (Aldershot Town).
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Anthony Straker replaces Idris Kanu.
Substitution, Sutton United. Dan Fitchett replaces Adam Coombes.
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Matt McClure replaces Shamir Fenelon.
Gomis (Sutton United) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Sutton United. Kevin Amankwaah replaces Simon Downer.
Substitution, Sutton United. Maxime Biamou replaces Adam May.
Kundai Benyu (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card.
Substitution, Aldershot Town. Scott Rendell replaces Callum Buckley.
Second Half begins Aldershot Town 1, Sutton United 0.
First Half ends, Aldershot Town 1, Sutton United 0.
Own Goal by Will Puddy, Sutton United.  Aldershot Town 1, Sutton United 0.
Will Evans (Aldershot Town) is shown the yellow card.
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


A 46-year-old woman who suffered fatal injuries after being struck by a car understood to have been driven by her husband has been named by police.

Kim Clark, from Kinross, died after being hit the car outside an address in South Street, Milnathort, on Tuesday.
Police said Mrs Clark's family were understandably upset at their loss and that she would be greatly missed.
Officers said inquiries into the circumstances of the incident were ongoing.


A mother described by police as a "monster" has been found guilty of murdering her two-year-old son.

Keanu Williams died in January 2011 after being found with 37 injuries, including a fractured skull and torn abdomen in Ward End, Birmingham.
Rebecca Shuttleworth, 25, of Cottingham Road, Manchester, was convicted after a five-month trial.
Det Ch Insp Caroline Marsh said it was the worst case of child abuse she had seen.
Shuttleworth's partner Luke Southerton, of Hagley Road, Birmingham, was cleared of murder but convicted of one count of child cruelty.
Shuttleworth, formerly of Hay Mills, Birmingham, was also convicted of four counts of child cruelty.
The pair, who had both denied the charges, will be sentenced on Tuesday.
A serious case review into the role of all the agencies that came into contact with Keanu and his family, including social workers and the police, is due to be published soon.
Jane Held, chair of Birmingham's Safeguarding Children Board, admitted chances to take action had been missed.
"It is clear from this trial that professionals in the different agencies involved missed a significant number of opportunities to intervene and take action," she said.
Police said that Keanu, who was moved around England by his mother, may have "slipped through the net" by not staying in one local authority area for long.
During the trial, the jury heard Southerton called 999 from his flat at about 19:40 on 9 January and emergency crews arrived to find Keanu, also known as Kiwi, collapsed on a sofa.
The toddler was confirmed dead later that day.
The trial heard many of the injuries found on his body could have been inflicted up to 48 hours before the emergency call was made.
Outside court, Det Ch Insp Marsh said: "It's extremely difficult to understand how someone could do that to their own child.
"Rebecca Shuttleworth is clearly somebody who is not like a normal member of society. In the past, I have described her as a monster and perhaps I would stand by that."
She added: "I don't like to imagine the kind of death this little boy suffered because it clearly was horrendous.
"He did suffer terribly at the hands of his mother who should have loved him unconditionally and clearly she did that to him.
"This is the worst case of child abuse I have ever seen."
At the start of the trial, prosecutor Christopher Hotten QC told the jury Keanu's injuries had not been an "isolated event" but were the culmination of a long period of ill-treatment.
He said the fact Shuttleworth had not sought help for Keanu "until it was too late" proved she knew his injuries were "incapable of sensible explanation".
A post-mortem examination found there had been bruising to the boy's body consistent with him having been struck with an object such as a stick or rod with some force.
A fist-sized tear was also found in part of Keanu's abdomen, which had caused substantial bleeding, the court heard.
In a statement, after the verdicts were announced, Keanu's aunt Angela Shuttleworth, 26, said his death had "torn the family apart".
She said: "Since the tragic death of Kiwi, we haven't been able to grieve or say goodbye to him properly.
"We hope now this is over we can lay Kiwi to rest and begin to have some closure."
Police said Keanu had lived with his mother in several places in the last six months of his life, including with his aunt, his grandfather and with Southerton.
Keanu was born in Torbay and brought to Birmingham in March 2010 when Shuttleworth moved back to the city and started a relationship with Southerton.
Police said the toddler had "30 visible burns and injuries to his tiny body" and lived a "chaotic" and seemingly "very nomadic life".
Wendy Bounds from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service said: "Keanu sustained a series of increasingly serious, unexplained or inadequately explained injuries.
"For much of the time he had been left alone in a room to suffer in pain.
"There was no medical attention sought at any point from Friday night [of the weekend he died] until his mother noticed on Sunday afternoon he was not breathing."
Both defendants were on bail throughout their trial, which heard evidence from more than 70 witnesses.
Shuttleworth was remanded in custody following the verdict, ahead of Tuesday's sentencing, while Southerton was again bailed.


A Liverpool fan who threatened the carer of a disabled supporter at Steven Gerrard's last match at Anfield has been given a three-year stadium ban.

Jonathan Poulter, 20, became aggressive after being asked to take down a banner blocking the view of disabled fans.
At one point, he threatened the husband of a wheelchair user, Liverpool Community Justice Court was told.
Poulter, of Chapel Road, Anfield was found guilty by a district judge of using threatening behaviour.
He is now banned from going near any ground where Liverpool are playing, home or away, as well as any international games, for three years.
It had been widely publicised there would be a special introduction and guard of honour for Steven Gerrard before the kick-off at Anfield on 16 May, but the offending banner was said to have been so big that fans were unable to see.
The unnamed couple, who have been Liverpool fans for more than 40 years, said they have been left feeling anxious about going to see Liverpool play.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Alison Clarkson said it had been a disability hate crime and Poulter had "spoiled" the occasion for several people, directing his "threatening abuse at some of the most vulnerable fans in the ground".
The court was told that fans often raise banners at that spot but normally take them down as soon as the players come on to the pitch.
Poulter was also ordered to pay costs of Â£1,080.


Monaghan struggled to a 1-12 to 1-7 Round 3B qualifier win over a battling Carlow side to book their place in the last 12 of the All-Ireland series.

Monaghan led 0-5 to 0-3 at half-time but had Darren Hughes black-carded in stoppage time for dissent.
Carlow drew level and went 1-5 to 0-6 ahead thanks to Gary Kelly's goal.
Ryan McAnespie's score nudged Monaghan a point ahead and Fintan Kelly's goal gave his side breathing space as they progressed despite hitting 14 wides.
The sides were meeting in the Championship for the first time but Carlow belied their status as major underdogs as they went in just two behind at the interval despite playing against the breeze.
The visitors struggled to live up to their billing as favourites and find the necessary composure in front of goal but Conor McManus (3) and Kieran Hughes (2) managed to register scores for the defeated Ulster semi-finalists.
Paul Broderick knocked over two frees and Brendan Murphy recorded a point for the hosts, the last remaining Division Four county left in the Championship.
Dessie Mone replaced the black-carded Hughes but further points from Broderick and Murphy brought the sides level early in the second half, before Shane Carey made it 0-6 to 0-5.
Kelly's 49th-minute goal, a blasted right-foot effort into the roof of the net, injected further confidence into a Carlow side who had never before reached the third round of the qualifiers, then substitute Conor McCarthy and Broderick traded frees.
McCarthy brought the Farney County to within a point and a Rory Beggan free and McAnespie's point saw Malachy O'Rourke's side finally get into their stride.
Kelly palmed the ball home and Hughes and Dermot Malone also pointed as Monaghan dominated possession in the latter stages, while Broderick brought his free tally to five for the tiring hosts.


Students will have formal contracts with universities, so they can challenge them over too few teaching hours or if facilities are inadequate, says Universities Minister Jo Johnson.

Mr Johnson highlighted growing concerns among students about not getting good value for money.
He also warned universities to stop "excessive" pay for vice-chancellors.
But Mr Johnson rejected calls to scrap tuition fees - saying it would be a "disaster of historic proportions".
The Russell Group of leading universities was lukewarm in its response to the idea of a binding contract - warning of "unintended consequences" and saying that "no one would want to see standards undermined by the risk of legal action".
Labour said that talk about value for money for students was a "smokescreen" to cover for the unpopularity of the rising cost of fees.
In a speech to the Reform think tank in London, Mr Johnson fought back against calls to stop the rise in tuition fees and interest rates on loans.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that higher fees of £9,250 and interest rates rising to 6.1% will mean graduates leaving university with debts of more than £50,000 on average.
Former Education Minister Lord Adonis has called such high levels of fees and interest charges "indefensible", and the head of the Russell Group of universities has called for a reassessment of interest rates.
But Mr Johnson, while saying such charges would be kept "under review", he defended the principles underlying the current system as progressive and providing the funding for extra university places.
Mr Johnson said it was "outrageous" and "entirely false" to suggest that higher tuition fees had deterred disadvantaged students from going to university - and that entry rates for young people from poorer backgrounds were at record levels.
Labour's policy of scrapping tuition fees would mean universities depending on government funding, said Mr Johnson, and he said that if higher education was competing against other pressures on public spending, universities would see their budgets squeezed.
It would mean a "long decline into mediocrity", said Mr Johnson, and a falling number of places.
He said the cost of scrapping fees, clearing existing student-loan debts and repaying students who had already paid off their loans would require a 2.5p hike in the basic rate of income tax.
But he also called for the university system to become much more responsive to the needs of students.
Mr Johnson said the newly established Office for Students would consider how to introduce contracts for all students, giving them a way of contesting the quality of their courses.
This would cover areas such as contact time, resources and assessments.
"Although contracts do exist in various forms in some institutions, most of them do not provide enough detail to be useful," said Mr Johnson.
"Providing students with greater contractual certainty", said Mr Johnson, would "help to address much of the dissatisfaction over seeming poor value-for-money of undergraduate education".
Mr Johnson said such contracts would tackle problems of "non-delivery" for students and would give them "some form of redress", which could include "legal remedies".
The minister also told universities to restrain pay for vice-chancellors - with dozens of university heads now receiving over £300,000 and some being paid more than £400,000.
"When students and taxpayers invest so heavily in our higher education system, value for money should be guaranteed.  Yet, I am still hearing students say that their course is poor quality.
"This is not good enough, especially when some vice-chancellors take home a wage that in some cases exceeds that of the prime minister."
But Labour's universities spokesman, Gordon Marsden, said Mr Johnson was "completely toothless" over vice-chancellors' pay and his complaints would be "kicked into the long grass".
"His announcements today are a smokescreen to dodge mounting evidence that the cost of loans is pushing students away from applying to university and forcing more to drop out," said Mr Marsden.


A 15-year-old boy stabbed to death in south London has been named locally as Jermaine Goupall.

He is the 15th teenager to be killed in a knife attack in the capital this year and the second in less than 24 hours. There were 12 fatal stabbings in 2016.
Jermaine was found by police officers at about 23:00 BST on Tuesday in Georgia Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon.
He was confirmed dead at the scene shortly before midnight. There have been no arrests.
An elderly neighbour, who knew the boy, said: "He was a nice lad, I would see him to speak to in the street and he would come over and stroke my dog, say hello.
"I know his dad, Stan, better. It seems desperately sad that this can happen to such an innocent boy."
Another neighbour said: "I was in my house and I heard a police helicopter at around midnight.
"I've seen on the news that it was a 15-year-old boy; it's just so sad."
Jermaine has not yet been formally identified by police.
Post-mortem tests will take place later this week. Officers remain at the scene and cordons are in place.
Councillor Alison Butler, deputy leader of Croydon Council, said: "I am devastated to hear another young man has lost his life to knife crime, and my thoughts are with the victim's family.
"This is happening all too frequently both in Croydon and across London - enough is enough."


West Ham have won their appeal against Cheikhou Kouyate's red card in their FA Cup fifth-round win at Blackburn.

Kouyate, 26, was sent off by referee Jonathan Moss for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity when bringing down Rovers defender Adam Henley during West Ham's 5-1 win at Ewood Park.
The decision and one-match ban was overturned by an independent FA regulatory commission.
The midfielder can now play against Sunderland on Saturday (12:45 GMT).


Michael Keane's future at Burnley has "not changed" despite reports linking the defender with a move away from the club, says manager Sean Dyche.

The 24-year-old has had an impressive season and has been shortlisted for the Professional Footballers' Association young player of the year award.
He made his England debut on 22 March in the 1-0 defeat by Germany.
"He is focused on the job at hand in delivering performances for the club," said Dyche.
The Clarets manager said he heard rumours that Keane was leaving the club on television, adding it was "news to me".
"The reality is nothing's changed," he said.
"We have had no contact from any clubs. We are a different animal from what we were a few years ago. We are in a very strong business situation and there is no consideration of our players leaving."
Everton, Tottenham and Liverpool are all reportedly interested in signing the centre-back, who began his career with Manchester United.
After loan spells with Leicester, Derby, Blackburn and Burnley he moved permanently to Turf Moor in January 2015, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal.


Scientists are puzzling over what is described as a "missing jigsaw piece" in climate research - the role of dust in global warming.

With huge plumes of particles rising into the atmosphere from deserts and farmland, the question is whether they raise temperatures or lower them.
Massive dust-storms recently engulfed major cities in the Middle East.
So researchers are investigating whether a warmer world will also become dustier.
Prolonged drought in the US state of Oklahoma over the past few years saw a return to conditions that resembled the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
A recent estimate suggested that about 40% of the so-called aerosols released into the air every year is made up of mineral dust.
Some of it comes from human activity, such as ploughing or grazing arid land or diverting rivers leading to the drying-out of water bodies such as the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
But much atmospheric dust is naturally created on bare land in quantities that are governed by a combination of factors including rainfall, geological source and wind speed.
The largest source of dust in the southern hemisphere is the Etosha Pan, a vast area of baked ground in Namibia in southern Africa.
This spectacular landscape is periodically flooded and the waters leave a rich sediment that is then left to dry under the tropical sun.
The pan lies at the centre of Etosha National Park, a major tourist attraction which hosts abundant wildlife - we saw elephants, giraffe and a herd of zebra thriving on apparently barren terrain.
Clouds of dust rise on a scale that's visible from space, with satellite pictures capturing the dust billowing off the pan and then being carried for hundreds of miles over Namibia and then out over the Atlantic Ocean.
To try to understand how much dust is created from this one natural feature, and the precise conditions that determine when a dust plume will form, a British and South African team has been gathering data for the past three years.
At several locations around the pan, researchers established arrays of instruments ringed by fencing to keep away curious animals.
The devices have been measuring everything from the wind speeds to the quantities of dust carried at different heights above the ground to the thickness of the plumes themselves.
One of those involved in the project is Prof David Thomas of Oxford University, a veteran researcher of some of the world's dustiest areas.
Speaking in the ferocious heat of the southern hemisphere summer, he told me that climate models lack a precise role for dust which could potentially limit their accuracy.
"Dust is one of the missing jigsaw pieces in climate modelling," he said.
"On the one hand, more dust in the air could mean less incoming short-wave solar radiation and less warming while, on the other hand, the blanket that the dust could provide in the atmosphere could reduce the loss of heat and that could mean more warming.
"More dust in the atmosphere could mean more heat trapping, particularly at night so it's a difficult situation to understand."
The aim of the project is for the first time to gather data at a major source of dust in a way that allows it to be used in climate models.
This would be useful because of the multiple roles of dust in the climate system: not only does it reflect or trap heat but it also acts as a fertiliser for plankton in the oceans, which then acts as a carbon sink.
These questions will become even more relevant if rising temperatures themselves trigger the release of yet more dust into the atmosphere.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in 2007 that simulations of future dust emissions were highly uncertain, with a vast range of scenarios - some of which point to less dusty conditions while others suggest a big increase.
Studies by the US Geological Survey suggested that warmer conditions in the southwest US could accelerate the loss of grasses and therefore increase the production of dust.
The authors concluded that the key factors included the future wind speeds and resilience of local vegetation.
Asked whether global warming could lead to a dustier atmosphere, Prof Thomas said: "It's not possible to say - what we do know is that human activity at the surface is potentially creating environments where more dust can be generated."
In the Etosha Pan, Prof Thomas and his colleagues have found that strong winds are not enough on their own to guarantee surface material will be dislodged.
Also important are a series of relatively wet years to bring supplies of fresh sediment, together with rainfall that is intense enough to break up the surface.
Walking over the pan is rather like stepping on to very thin ice, with each footstep crunching through a thin and brittle surface, exposing a layer of dust below that is so fine that it resembles powder.
It is this dust, light enough to borne by the wind, that goes on to form the plumes that flow high into the atmosphere.
Regardless of the effect that dust may have on the climate, dust itself can pose a significant hazard to human health.
"The obvious impact is on respiration and you get an increase in respiratory diseases," Prof Thomas said.
"But dust can also be a carrier of pathogens so in effect it can be very bad to live downwind of major dust sources."
The research project, known as DO4MODELS, involved scientists from the universities of Oxford, Imperial College London, Sheffield, Southampton and Cape Town.
COP 21 - the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties - will see more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the threat of dangerous warming due to human activities.
Explained: What is climate change?
In video: Why does the Paris conference matter?
Analysis: Latest from BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath
In graphics: Climate change in six charts
More: BBC News special report (or follow the COP21 tag in the BBC News app)


A Muslim free school in Derby will be closed unless "unacceptable" teaching standards improve and discrimination against female staff and pupils stops.

In a letter to the chair of the Al-Madinah Education Trust, Education Minister Lord Nash laid out 17 issues.
These included forcing female teachers to cover their hair and failing to carry out background checks on staff.
The interim principal said its pupils were treated equally. The school's trust said it was seeking legal advice.
Dr Stuart Wilson, the acting head teacher, said there were areas the school needed to address and it was co-operating with Ofsted.
When asked if staff and children are treated equally at the school, Dr Wilson replied: "Yes, they are treated equally and fairly."
The Al-Madinah School Education Trust said in a statement on the school's website that "the letter had come out of the blue" and while it intended to co-operate fully with the Department for Education, it would also be speaking to the school's solicitors.
Lord Nash's letter stated if urgent steps were not taken by 15 October, funding will be pulled.
The school was closed for a week on the first the day of an Ofsted inspection on 1 October citing "health and safety issues".
Ofsted released its statement to "clarify media reports" about why the school had closed.
In it, HM Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said: "Inspectors discovered that staff records showing whether they were cleared to supervise children were either missing or incomplete.
"The school remained closed until yesterday [Monday] when inspectors made a return visit to satisfy themselves that the necessary safeguarding arrangements were in place and that there were sufficient numbers of adults with the necessary clearance for the school to function safely."
A full Ofsted report is expected soon, he added.
Addressing chair Shazia Parveen, Lord Nash wrote: "The trust has manifestly breached the conditions of its funding agreement by:
"I will not tolerate breaches of the commitments you gave when entering into the funding agreement," he added.
He has urged the school's trust to take five "urgent steps" by 15 October, including providing written confirmation that "you have ceased any practices and procedures that have as their reason, cause or effect that women and girls are treated less favourably than men and boys".
The school has been given a deadline of 22 October for nine further action points and must provide a plan setting out a clear management structure by the start of November.


Police searching for missing toddler Ben Needham are excavating the area near to where it has been claimed he was crushed to death by a digger.

Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos on 24 July 1991.
Earlier this month, it was alleged digger driver ÂKonstantinos Barkas may be responsible for his death.
A search team of 19 officers, forensic specialists and an archaeologist have been digging for six days.
BBC reporter Danny Savage, who is in Kos, said: "They are clearing an area where the digger driver who is believed to have accidentally run Ben over on the day that he disappeared was working at the time.
"They are clearing the trees and then they will be bringing in the earth mover to start digging up the site.
"There is an air of optimism. They are here on pretty solid information that they believe Ben was killed in an accident on that day in July 1991. They believe that they can find the remains of Ben."
The search was briefly held up on Friday after officers uncovered ancient graves and were asked to stop by the landowner.
However, the search resumed after concerns about the tombs were resolved.


Paratroops from Europe and the US have completed parachute jumps in the Netherlands to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem.

Operation Market Garden during World War Two saw Allied forces land behind German lines near Arnhem, where they were defeated after days of fighting.
Germany is also taking part in the commemoration, which will be followed by a short remembrance service.
The battle was the inspiration for the film A Bridge Too Far.
Thousands of lives were lost on both sides in the fighting.
According to the British army, Saturday's events are among the largest multinational parachute jumps to take place in Europe this year.
Arnhem was one of the most controversial Allied operations of the war. The Allies' aim was to inflict a decisive blow on the Germans and therefore end the war by Christmas 1944.
But the Germans put up strong resistance and it was left to the airborne forces to defend themselves in a bloody battle, without ground troops.
After nine days' fighting the airborne forces were withdrawn.
Tom Hicks from Barnsley is one of the battle's veterans attending the event. He told the BBC that when he and his fellow soldiers landed, the Dutch thought they had been freed from Nazi control.
"They brought milk out and flowers and thought the war was over. They thought they were liberated.
"And we knew there was a long way to go before they were liberated. Children [were] holding your hand and skipping... thinking 'oh, back to normal life'."


China is trying to track down at least 193 people who may have come in contact with a man with Mers, the country's first confirmed case of the virus.

The alert came as South Korea announced it had two more Mers cases, bringing the total within the country to nine.
The outbreak has been traced to a South Korean who visited the Middle East.
China's first case was another South Korean who had ignored quarantine restrictions and flew to Hong Kong, before travelling south by bus.
It confirmed the case on Thursday night, two days after the 44-year-old made the trip.
The World Health Organization says there has so far been no sustained human-to-human spread of the Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome) virus, which has no known cure.
Chinese media reported on Friday that the unnamed 68-year-old man had flown into Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airport on Asiana Airlines Flight OZ 723, then took a bus through the busy Shenzhen crossing to Huizhou in the southern Guangdong province. He also stayed in a hotel.
He later went to a Huizhou hospital and tested positive for Mers.
Guangdong health authorities warned that it was likely the disease would spread as he had been in busy or crowded places.
He Jianfeng, director for the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control, told reporters that the possibility of Mers transferring to others in the area was "very high".
So far 38 people who came into close contact with the man have been tested and have not showed any signs of illness.
But a Hong Kong woman who was on the same flight was rushed to hospital on Friday after showing symptoms, said The South China Morning Post.
Mers comes from the same family of viruses as Sars (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) which originated in China in 2002 and infected thousands worldwide.
The mystery virus with no known cure


Letters from a man with an "ongoing obsession" with BBC news presenter Emily Maitlis left her fearing for her safety, a court heard.

Edward Vines is accused of breaching a restraining order by sending letters to Ms Maitlis and her mother.
In the letters, Mr Vines said the Newsnight presenter acted "scornfully" towards him after he told her he loved her.
He denies two charges of breaching the restraining order, imposed in 2009.
The trial at Oxford Crown Court heard how the 46-year-old sent two letters to Ms Maitlis and emails and letters to her mother, Marion Maitlis, between 10 May and 26 June, 2015.
Mr Vines' first letter to the presenter accused her of making up allegations of harassment, it was alleged.
In a statement, Ms Maitlis said: "I was at the BBC, going through my post, when I noticed an envelope addressed to me.
"I opened it and straight away saw the name Edward Vines. I did not read the contents of the letter and handed it straight to security.
"When Edward Vines contacts me, it causes me considerable stress and makes me worry about my safety and that of my family."
The jury heard the letters focussed on a friendship the pair formed while studying at Cambridge University in 1990.
Mr Vines wrote that it was when he told Ms Maitlis he loved her that the friendship broke down.
He claims Ms Maitlis became scornful towards him and distanced herself from him.
The jury also heard he had been seeing a psychotherapist for five years to try to make sense of the former friendship.
It was also claimed Mr Vines sent emails to Marion Maitlis, saying he had suicidal thoughts and asked her for help to contact her daughter.
Mr Vines denies the charges. The trial is expected to resume on Monday.


Flights from Cardiff to Norwich have been shelved just two months after they began.

LinksAir launched the service from the Welsh government-owned Cardiff Airport in April in the hope of attracting business passengers.
But it has now said the route is "not likely to deliver profitability in the very short term" and passengers booked on future flights would be refunded.
Cardiff Airport said it was disappointed by the decision.
LinksAir runs daily Welsh government-subsidised flights from Anglesey to Cardiff and launched the Norwich service in between flights because the plane was sitting dormant for much of the day.
Announcing its cancellation, LinksAir said: "As part of the requirements of operating the Welsh government PSO service to Anglesey twice daily from Cardiff, any additional commercial service must operate autonomous from the PSO service and cover all its operating costs from the outset.
"In the two months since the service commenced, the service was not likely to deliver profitability in the very short term."
It added the move would have no impact on the Cardiff to Anglesey flights.
Debra Barber, managing director at Cardiff Airport, said: "LinksAir's decision to terminate its Cardiff-Norwich service was very disappointing.
"For a new route we feel the load factors were improving in line with expectations and beginning to pick up traction as awareness grew.
"The Anglesey/Ynys MÃ´n service continues to perform very well and remains an important link for business and leisure passengers."
The Welsh Conservatives' Shadow Transport Minister William Graham said it was a "rather unsettling announcement" coming so soon after the route was launched.
"It was only last week that reports confirmed that passenger numbers at Cardiff had dipped below one million, and this news does little to restore shaky confidence in the airport. ," he said.


Thousands of Irish language activists have attended a march and rally in Belfast.

They called for the introduction of laws which would give Irish equal status with English.
Saturday's demonstration drew supporters from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
They walked along the Falls Road into the city centre, before holding a rally in front of city hall.
An Irish language act has been high on the Stormont agenda for months.
Organisers of the march and rally say that an act has to be central to any political settlement.
It is thought between 4,000 to 5,000 people attended the event which was organised by An Dream Dearg.
Spokesperson CiarÃ¡n Mac Giolla BhÃ©in said there was "comprehensive and widespread support" for a rights-based Irish language Act.
He said those who had attended had done so to express their support in a clear, positive and unequivocal manner.
"All those who believe in diversity, language rights and human rights have come together as we demand that this state acts now and implements an Irish language act that was promised over ten years ago in the St Andrews Agreement," he said.
"There is no doubt that the Irish language is now at the very centre of the current political crisis in the north and An Dream Dearg are stating clearly that no political institutions or future political arrangement are tenable in the absence of a rights based Irish language act.
"Extensive public support for an Irish language act has been endorsed by the overwhelming majority across the community in successive public consultations; a clear majority of newly elected MLA's in the assembly support our demand, as does the United Nations and the Council of Europe."


A man has appeared in court following an armed robbery in Drumnadrochit on Sunday night.

Officers were called to a house in Coilte Crescent in the Kilmore area of Drumnadrochit.
A 35-year-old man, from London, appeared from custody in private at Inverness Sheriff Court in connection with the incident.
Ali Akguc made no plea or declaration, was committed for further examination and remanded in custody.


Some of the quirkier snippets from the news in Africa that we did not know last week:

While he was covering a story on the lifting of the EU ban on ostrich eggs, BBC Africa Business Report's Taurai Maduna discovered the eggs are strong enough to carry his weight.
Find out more
2) You can get drunk from porridge
Some Zimbabwean boarding schools have banned students from bringing in porridge after they suspected it was used to brew beer, according to The Chronicle newspaper.
Find out more
Princess Elizabeth was staying in a tree-house at the top of a huge tree in Kenya in 1952, when the news came that her father had died in the UK, making her queen. Two years later the tree was burnt down by Mau Mau fighters opposed to British colonial rule.
Find out more
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe said after a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja that Africa loses more than $7bn a year to piracy at sea.
Find out more
Africa's population is set to double by 2050, with Nigeria leading the way.
Found out more
The rapper, who has filed for bankruptcy, posted a video of workmen putting the finishing touches to his new house but he only revealed that it was "in Africa" without revealing where.
Find out more


Silence rings out in the mountains of Nepal as hundreds of thousands of people wait in the valleys, hoping to return to their villages.

They were displaced after the massive earthquake on 25 April, which triggered landslides which buried their families and settlements.
Deep cracks and fissures on mountain slopes have also kept people away.
"Some of the cracks are so big that you cannot just cross them," said farmer Karma Singh Tamang, pointing at a massive landslide which swept away his and neighbouring settlements in Haku village of Rasuwa district.
"If you fell into those cracks, your body will simply disappear deep below, we cannot even think of going back there."
Scientists have already recorded more than 3,000 landslides caused by the earthquake and warn that monsoon rains could cause more.
A massive landslip in Taplejung district caused by initial monsoon rains last week claimed nearly 40 lives.
And Taplejung did not even bear the full force of the earthquake.
Geologists say the impact of rain on mountains that have been directly hit by the quake will be much greater.
The epicentres of the main earthquake on 25 April and major aftershock on 12 May were in the mountains in central Nepal.
Scientists have found that a swathe of the Himalayas in the region dropped by up to 1.5m (5ft) because of the earthquake.
"When that happened to the high Himalayas, imagine what might have happened to the mountain ranges just below them where we lived," said Saraswati Tamang, a local leader of Haku village in Rasuwa district bordering Tibet.
"The landslides and cracks have totally changed our landscapes and we are left wondering how can we go back to those places and build our houses there and do farming again."
Foreign aid workers say flattening the mountain slopes to make them habitable and arable once again has been a major challenge because of the difficult topography.
Tourists were among those killed in the quake, with the highest number of foreigner deaths in Rasuwa district in the Langtang valley, a major trekking destination.
Sangbu Tamang owned the biggest hotel in the valley.
He was away on business when the earthquake struck and destroyed his livelihood.
"We were the biggest donor to Buddhist monasteries in the region and now we are seeking donations so that we can feed ourselves and have shelter," he said in a makeshift camp in Kathmandu.
"I have managed to survive but have now been thrown to the streets by the force of the nature."
The Annapurna region in western Nepal avoided the worst ravages but landslides on some mountain slopes have caused concern.
An aftershock last month caused a massive landslip (a smaller landslide) in the region's Myagdi district which blocked the Kali Gandaki river that joins the Ganges in India.
It threatened settlements and infrastructures downstream but the river found a small outlet and the lake has shrunk.
However, continued landslips are still a major threat and monsoon rains could raise the risk.
"Landslips apart, the earthquakes have also caused cracks in the mountains," said Professor Biswo Shrestha, a geographer with Prithvi Narayan Campus, pointing at one such crack beside the Seti River on the outskirts of Pokhara.
"Due to the loose composition of the mountains in the region, the earthquake has had impacts like that and we need to identify such dangers and keep people safe."
The government has re-opened some Unesco world heritage sites in the Kathmandu valley but the mountains remain off limits as people are too frightened to go back.
The city of Pokhara is a major tourist hub and gateway to the Annapurna region.  It's normally bustling but the streets are now empty with few tourists around.
Aaron McKee from Northern Ireland is one of the exceptions. He has been trekking in the region for the past month and says he has no safety concerns.
"People need to come back to the Annapurna circuit and the Annapurna base camp, they are open and they are all good, it's just bad reporting," he said.
"These areas have not been affected by the earthquake, and the tourism industry needs people to come back."
The Trekking Agents Association of Nepal has sought a scientific assessment of the earthquake-hit areas by top international geologists so it can declare which regions are safe.
"We have bought into that idea and are now working to secure funds to conduct such a comprehensive study," said department of tourism director general Tulsi Prasad Gautam.
The tourism industry is influential given its significant contribution to the country's foreign exchange earnings.
But for the hundreds of thousands of farmers displaced from their homes on the mountain slopes, it may not be as easy.
They will have to wait for what the government and donor agencies can do for them - and also for the mountains to settle.


A group of independence campaigners have lost their legal fight against eviction from their Holyrood camp.

The Scottish Parliament took the IndyCamp group to court after they refused to end their occupation of the parliamentary estate.
After a seven-month court battle, Lord Turnbull ruled that it would not breach human rights laws to have the camp evicted.
The campers said they would appeal, hoping to stay in the meantime.
In an email to MSPs, the Scottish Parliament said officials would "seek discussions" with the campers to "agree plans for a peaceful removal of the camp".
The IndyCamp was set up outside the parliament in November 2015, with the campers pledging to remain in place until Scotland is declared independent.
The parliament ordered them to leave, saying they were camping without permission, taking up space others could be using and endangering the neutrality of the parliamentary estate,
A lengthy legal battle ensued, with the campers putting forward a series of unusual arguments based on the Declaration of Arbroath, the 1707 Act of Union and the second coming of Christ.
Respondents also attempted to call the Queen as a witness and accused Lord Turnbull of "blasphemy", but the case ultimately came down to a question of human rights; whether evicting the campers would be a proportionate response with regard to their human rights.
After hearing legal arguments on this point, Lord Turnbull criticised their approach as "selfish or even arrogant", saying the campers had shown "open disregard" for others.
He said the order sought by parliament, for eviction, would not "substantially impair the ability to protest at the grounds of the Scottish Parliament".
The judge added that the campers did not have an "unfettered right" to hold a permanent vigil outside Holyrood, saying he had come down "firmly in favour" of the parliament's view that eviction would be proportionate.
Camper Dean Halliday told the BBC that it was a "sad day for Scotland", saying the group would appeal against the judgement.
He described the campers as "middle aged tea drinkers" who represent the "Yes" movement for independence, saying they had gathered outside Holyrood in response to Nicola Sturgeon asking for the "voice of the people".
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Parliament said: "The corporate body regrets that it was forced to take this action, however, given the protesters refusal to vacate the land or consider alternative options to make their protest, we were left with no choice.
"We took this action to protect the rights of all those who wish to use and access Parliament land and we welcome Lord Turnbull's judgement in our favour today."
The parliament will now seek discussions with the campers to remove the camp in a "planned and orderly way", saying they remained open to "exploring alternative options" for the group to "express their views while ensuring the land remains available for the use of others".
Parliamentary corporate body member Andy Wightman said he hoped the campers would leave voluntarily, but said "we will take steps" to have them removed if they do not.
The Green MSP, a supporter of Scottish independence, said the issue was "irrelevant" to the IndyCamp case. He added that parliament was "bound to defend its interests", and said it was "proportionate and right" to take action against the camp.


Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, has expressed optimism about China's growth, despite fears over its economic health.

"I remain a raging bull in relation to China," he told the BBC's Today programme.
WPP saw a 44.5% rise in preliminary pre-tax profit to Â£710m for the first half. Revenues rose 6.8% to Â£5.84bn.
He added that Chinese economic growth was fundamental to the company's future.
"China has been the biggest driver of the world economy," he said.
Despite the recent reports of slowing economic growth in the world's second-largest economy, Sir Martin pointed out how far China had come.
"They ain't done too bad with a five-year planned economy since 1985," he said, adding that China's prospects needed to be seen in the light of "30 years of growth and expansion and the hundreds of millions of people that have been taken out of poverty and moved into a lower-middle or middle class".
While China is WPP's third-biggest market, the US is the firm's biggest.
Strong growth in North America and the UK helped to boost the company's bottom line.
Looking forward, Sir Martin said he expected WPP to meet sales targets for the full year.
The world's biggest advertising group owns a host of agencies around the world, including J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, and employs some 179,000 people in 111 countries.


Police have appealed to parents after they seized a haul of drugs and alcohol from teenagers - some as young as 13 - in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon.

About 250 items were collected including, Class A, B and C drugs, 200 prescription tablets, 74 litres of cider and 16 litres of vodka.
They were seized on Friday as part of "Operation Snapper," planned to coincide with school summer holidays.
Police spoke to more than 230 young people aged between 13 and 16.
As a result of the operation, officers took several children home to their parents, and others were referred to the Alcohol Support Programme.
However, police said they also "referred many children and parents to social services".
In a statement, Chief Inspector Jon Burrows said: "I would appeal to all parents and guardians as we approach the school holidays to know where your children are, check and double check and talk to them about the dangers of alcohol and drugs."
'Operation Snapper' took place across the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon on Friday.
The pro-active operation was aimed at "safeguarding young people and preventing anti-social behaviour".
Mr Burrows said officers focused on locations "that are often out of public sight" where young people "consume alcohol and sometimes drugs".
"Alarmingly, we recovered Class A, B and C drugs, including 200 prescription tablets.
"Many of the 'out of view' places we found children in, there were also bongs and other paraphernalia for consuming drugs."
He added: "A common theme emerged that children were drinking alcohol earlier in the day so they would sober up by the time they got home to their parents or guardians.
"Another more familiar story was retold time and time again - parents thought their children were one place, only for us to find them somewhere else."
The officer said that although there were "many facets" to the problem of underage drinking, "the most important interventions happen at home".
CI Burrows added: "Police officers all too often see the tragic impact of underage drinking and drug taking, the harm and suffering caused to families and communities.
"We were glad to be on the front foot [on Friday], intervening before the anti social behaviour or the distress calls began."


Kilmarnock have signed defender Scott Boyd on a season-long loan from Scottish Premiership rivals Ross County.

The 30-year-old has been with the Dingwall club since leaving Partick Thistle in 2008.
But he has not played at all this season and has only made three appearances since December.
Boyd, who started his career with Livingston, becomes Killie boss Lee Clark's 16th signing this summer.


Wales welcomed a "substantial increase" in overseas visitors last year.

The International Passenger Survey, published by the Office for National Statistics, showed Wales received 856,000 overseas visitors in the first nine months of 2016.
This represented a 12% rise compared to the same period in 2015 and the highest increase among the UK nations.
Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure Ken Skates said it was "fantastic news for Wales".
Wales also recorded a 9% increase in expenditure compared to 2015.
Mr Skates said the tourism industry and Visit Wales were to be congratulated for the "high quality products, sustained investment, innovation and welcome" which "make Wales such an attractive place to visit".
"The Year of Adventure in 2016 provided focus for marketing and product development which gave people compelling reasons to visit Wales," he said.
Mr Skates added that Wales' profile had been boosted during the Euro 2016 football championship and would be raised further when Cardiff hosts the Uefa Champions League Final in June.
North Wales has also been listed as one of the top 10 places to visit in the world during 2017 by the travel guide Lonely Planet.
This year marks The Year of Legends.


The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger says she still "wants justice" 20 years after her son's death.

Denise Fergus said she had been "let down so many times by the system" but that she would continue to "fight".
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were convicted of killing two-year-old James in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993.
Mrs Fergus said she believed Venables was capable of harming other people if he was released from prison. He was recalled to prison in 2010.
He had been released from prison in 2001, having served seven years of a life sentence, but was recalled when he pleaded guilty to downloading and distributing indecent images of children.
Mrs Fergus, speaking to the BBC to mark the 20th anniversary of the killing, said: "Do not release him. I still don't think he's capable of walking amongst other people.
"He will do someone else harm. It's in him, and I strongly believe if he's released he will go on to hurt someone else."
Thompson, who was also released in 2001 after eight years in detention, was given a new secret identity and address.
Venables was aged 10 when he and Thompson abducted and murdered James, beating him with bricks and iron bars and leaving his body on a railway line.
James' mother described it as "a stupid, silly little mistake" of hers to let go of her child's hand for a few seconds on 12 February 1993 at the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle.
She said it "still feels so raw to this day".
"I still can't understand how it happened, or why it happened."
Mrs Fergus set up a charity, named after her son, to support young people who have become the victims of crime, hatred or bullying.
Asked if, after 20 years, she should move on, Mrs Fergus said: "Why should I let it go? They took the most precious thing away from me. I won't let it go. And I've always said if there's a fight there to be fought, then I'll fight it for James.
"If I let go of that now I will feel I've let James down.  That is something I'll never do, I'll never let James down. I want justice for James. He's never had justice."
She has campaigned to have both men kept in prison, and said: "I did warn [the authorities] that one of them or both of them would go on to reoffend, and I was proven right with Venables."
She said her family - her husband and three sons - mention James often. "I think the day I stop talking about him is the day I give up on life, but I'll never stop talking about him, never stop remembering him."


The funeral has been held of a chef who ran a Michelin-starred restaurant in Bristol, who died of skin cancer at the age of 32.

Jonray Sánchez-Iglesias from Portishead ran the Casamia restaurant in Westbury-on-Trym with his brother Peter.
The pair were named chefs of the year in the Good Food Guide 2015, and were described as "two little geniuses" by top chef Gordon Ramsay in 2010.
Hundreds of people attended the funeral at St Mary Redcliffe church.


Her grandfather was a coal miner, she learned the art of defending by watching John Terry videos and she is the archetypal no-nonsense centre-half.
And while that inner strength means she has been at ease in England's run to the semi-finals of Euro 2017, it has not been quite such plain sailing for her family.
Bright, a 23-year-old Chelsea player who two years ago was a midfielder, is the only member of the England squad to have started every game at the European Championship in the Netherlands.
That has been both a blessing and a curse for her family.
Because while Arthur Bramall, who used to work at the Rossington colliery in Doncaster, has kept his cool in the stands like his granddaughter on the field, it has been far more nervy for other members of the Bright entourage.
They have been at every game, and will return on Thursday to watch the semi-final against the Netherlands.
"The nerves really kick in when the anthems are playing and you want the team to win, but as a parent you just don't want your daughter to feel that pain of disappointment if they lose," said Bright's mum Nicola.
"That's the feeling you hang on to during the game, and against France in the quarter-final I had to leave my seat and go outside.
"My heart felt like it was coming out of my chest, and the guys in the burger van were laughing at me because I was pacing around. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
"But when that final whistle came, it was just pure euphoria and pride."
She need not have worried.
Bright's calmness in defence helped England win 1-0 against France - a team who had beaten them in the previous three tournaments - and has also helped her family cope with what they call a "surreal" European Championship.
Bright and her mum speak every day via FaceTime.
But Nicola says she has to "pinch herself" that she and her family are at a major international tournament watching their daughter, who only made her debut in September.
"This is just little Millie from Killamarsh," she told BBC Sport. "She has always dreamed of this, and we've gone along with it because as a parent you have to. But did we ever think it was going to be a reality? Maybe not."
It all hit the family, which also includes dad Steve, grandma Margaret and uncle Andrew, when Millie stepped off the bus for the opening game against Scotland.
"You see the police escorts, then the bus and when they got out, I was gone," said Margaret. "It was so emotional and something I'll never forget. That's when you realise she's made this."
Bright has 14 caps and, if she gets to 16 on Sunday, she could be a European champion.
"I'd like to say it has been a rollercoaster of emotions but the rollercoaster has only being going one way so far," said Nicola. "Up!"
Media playback is not supported on this device
Had things worked out differently, Bright could have been competing on a horse rather than a football pitch.
Her parents own a stable in their home village in Derbyshire, and she was a talented rider before football came calling when she was nine.
Participating in both sports at weekends led to a crossroads, and Bright opted for football, deciding she could go back into equestrianism when she retires.
"With football, I had to either give it everything now or I miss my opportunity," she said. "So I'm glad I took this chance."
Bright started her career at Sheffield United's academy at 12, before signing for Doncaster Rovers Belles at 16, and played with some distinction in Women's Super League 2 before Chelsea signed her in 2013.
She initially turned them down, preferring to stay close to her family, but a year later the draw was too strong.
Bright has since won the FA Cup, the WSL 1 title and the recent Spring Series. That decision to move to the capital has proved the right one.
"I was devastated when Millie left home," said Nicola. "It was one of the saddest days of my life. Millie walked out the door with tears streaming down her face, but it was the best thing she ever did. It's down to Chelsea that she is where she is today.
"It's a massive family there and she loves it."
A comparison with John Terry is an obvious one - plays for Chelsea and England, centre-back, two-footed and a winning mentality you can see in the eyes.
Bright describes the former captain of England men's team and Chelsea - now at Aston Villa - as a "rock" - and watching videos of him helped refine her game.
"I want to win my battles and I never hesitate to go in for a challenge," she said. "You have to make the strikers fear you."
Sound familiar?
But there is another rock who has helped her over the years - grandfather Arthur, whose no-nonsense feedback has been an important part of Bright's development.
"He gives me an honest opinion on the games and my performance and I really respect him for that," she said. "He's really helped me develop as a person and a player.
"When a lot of people doubted me, he's always been the one to pick me up."
And what is his message to the England centre-back before a game?
Nicola says: "'100%.' He doesn't have to add anything else."
Additional reporting by Katie Gornall


The truth is that most people have no inkling of the world that lies beneath their feet, or where the bulk of their current energy fix comes from.

When we flick the light switch or kettle, ancient plant and animal material, that formed hundreds of millions of years ago, are consumed in an instant.
The ancient geological past is powering the present, but for how much longer?
How ironic that our modern world is so hopelessly wedded to a substance that began life tens of millions of years ago.
And yet it is the liberation of that fossil solar energy tens of millions of years later that transformed the planet and redefined us as a species.
It is that transformation that I'm fascinated by and why I wanted to make this three-part series about our addiction to crude and to help me answer a fundamental question.
When did planet Earth become Planet Oil?
It's a series that's also been a personal journey.
My childhood and teenage years were spent oblivious to the stunning advances in petroleum science and technology that evolved furiously to exploit the buried bonanza off our shores.
I was born in November 1964.
A huge gas field had been discovered off the coast of Holland a few years earlier and geologists soon worked out that the very same hydrocarbon-bearing rocks ran all the way to the British coast.
By December 1964, the race was on to find oil and gas in the British sector of the North Sea.
The well drilled that winter was dry. But the following year, the Sea Gem drilling platform hit pay dirt, or rather natural gas.
The euphoria was short lived after disaster struck on Boxing Day 1965, with 14 men losing their lives.
It was an inauspicious start of what would become an engineering revolution that turned the UK's energy fortunes around.
By the time I was starting primary school, attention had shifted to the deeper waters northeast of Aberdeen and the first oil fields had been found - Brent and Forties - so-called "giant" fields that rivalled those of the Middle East.
My school days were punctuated by evening news footage of the latest platform being dragged out of yards and off to the wilds of the North Sea.
As a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 20-year-old geology student, my subject always seemed to be in the news.
During the early 80s, Margaret Thatcher was at war with coal, or rather Britain's miners.
Thatcher had vowed the UK's coal supply would never again be held to ransom by the National Union of Mineworkers and I remember at the time, it was like watching a fight to the death.
British governments had been here before, during the 1970s, but this time the balance of power had shifted.
Britain was no longer dependent on British Coal or the workers who mined it.
Thatcher's pledge to build more oil and gas-fired power stations helped put an end to both the strike and many of the mines that had fed the UK's insatiable appetite for coal for more than a century.
And the prime minister's promise was made in the knowledge Britain was for the first time in decades, energy secure - because the UK now belonged to a very exclusive club.
The North Sea was producing so much crude oil; we had become a net exporter and the wealth it generated flooded into the UK treasury.
Britain was awash with oil money.
The economy was booming.
So much so, that by the mid-80s, most of the students I shared my geology course at university with were immediately recruited into the swelling ranks of the offshore energy industry.
I took a different route, following an academic career that now finds me training students for geo-science careers, many of whom will go into the industry.
But in all other aspects I am a product of our homegrown hydrocarbon age - tupperware parties - polyester and new materials - fertilisers - I am Hydrocarbon Man.
As we show in this series, crude oil is a fuel which has come to dominate both our daily lives and the modern world.
It's also been used as a powerful weapon in international politics.
For much of the 20th century, global history and the environment were shaped by nation states whose acquisitive and aggressive foreign policies were determined by unsustainable economic growth and energy consumption.
As carbon energy sources became finite and the oil producing nations struggled to take back control of their own oil from Western energy companies, the oil and gas fields of the Middle East became a focus for coup d'Ã©tats and military conflict.
Come the 70s, this is why the stakes were so high.
Plagued by the energy crises rooted in the Middle East, it became a race against time to find alternative supplies in the shallow, but turbulent waters of the North Sea.
Through the development of deep sea drilling technology, once inaccessible and unviable oil reserves suddenly became viable.
It was the moment when Western Europe and the US finally unshackled themselves from their 20th century energy security nightmare.
In 2015, the North Sea oil industry will be 50 years old.
The truth is, our backyard has now become what the industry calls 'mature'.
A lot of the infrastructure out there has reached the end of its working life.
Many of the oil fields are on the decline. But while the former energy goldmine is fast becoming a fossil fuel graveyard, Britain is now poised to take the lead in developing the decommissioning technologies and facilities for dismantling and disposing of the ageing pipes and platforms that once supplied our energy golden age.
While decommissioning lacks the glamour of the booming 80s, Britain also leads the way in enhanced oil recovery technology or EOR for short.
EOR basically means sucking Planet Oil dry.
The age of what we call 'easy' oil is over.
The age of discovering vast new reserves like the North Sea has passed, so we're now left with oil that's more difficult - and expensive - to extract from existing reserves.
And that's because as wells age, they fill with water rather than oil, so extracting the remaining oil starts getting very complicated.
In the eyes of many in the industry, the North Sea is one of the test beds - a proving ground - for these new super-smart ways of draining the bottom of Nature's barrel.
With new technology extending the life of conventional wells, and "unconventional" alternative fuels like shale gas and oil being extracted in many parts of the world, it seems the Hydrocarbon Age will extend well into the 21st Century.
But the dilemma we face is that while there are plenty of fossil fuels left in the ground, can we really afford to burn what's left?
It is pretty clear to anyone that looks at the science that much of the remaining oil and gas reserves have to stay right where they are, if we're to avert the runaway effects of dangerous climate change.
As the latest report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes clear, an important tool in our carbon emissions reduction strategy must include the capture of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and their permanent storage underground - Carbon Capture Storage (CCS).
And this is where the North Sea might well play another vital and final role.
The idea is something deceptively simple.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the UK's power stations would be captured, and existing pipes in the North Sea would be used to transport it to decommissioned and re-configured platforms, where the waste emissions would be pumped down into the empty reservoirs that once provided us with natural gas.
The big vision is that this technology can be applied in any country and across a number of industries and would eventually be rolled out across the world.
CCS seems to offer us the chance to keep burning fossil fuels. But there are questions over its viability.
Some fear that the stored carbon dioxide could leak, and others point out that implementing this on an industrial scale is possibly decades away.
But the fact that British energy companies are at the forefront of developing CCS technology, means that the extraordinary North Sea story is far from over.
Planet Oil will be shown on BBC Two Scotland at 21:00 on Tuesday 10 February.


Mae un o swyddogion cwmni archfarchnad oedd yn euog o ddwyn bron i £1m oddi wrth y cwmni wedi ei charcharu am 45 mis.

Roedd Susan Jones, 57, wedi gweithio i gwmni CK Supermarkets am 20 mlynedd.
Clywodd Llys y Goron Abertawe fod Jones, oedd yn ysgrifennydd ar y cwmni, wedi dwyn £955,368 dros gyfnod o bedair blynedd wedi i fferm ei theulu wynebu problemau ariannol.
Daeth cyfrifydd o hyd i'r twyll yn dilyn cynnal archwiliad.
Dywedodd y bargyfreithiwr Frank Phillips ar ran yr erlyniad fod perchennog CK Supermarkets, Chris Killey, yn meddwl y byd o'r fam i bedwar o blant, ac nid oedd am alw'r heddlu i ymchwilio i ddechrau.
"Ond fe gafodd y mater ei gyfeirio at yr heddlu pan wrthododd y diffynydd a gwneud unrhyw ymdrech i ad-dalu'r arian oedd wedi ei ddwyn", meddai.
Clywodd y llys fod Jones wedi dechrau gweithio i'r cwmni yn 1994 a hi oedd yn gyfrifol am gyfrifon y cwmni gan nad oedd ei phennaeth yn gallu defnyddio cyfrifiaduron.
Ond yn 2009 fe aeth fferm yr oedd hi'n berchen arni i drafferthion ariannol ac fe ddechreuodd Jones drosglwyddo arian o gyfrif banc CK i'w chyfrif ei hun.
Fe dalodd ei morgais a biliau am offer amaethyddol.
Dywedodd Terence Woods ar ran yr amddiffyniad fod y fferm wedi bod yn eiddo i'r teulu ers nifer o genedlaethau.
Roedd Jones wedi gwadu'r twyll i ddechrau, ond fe newidiodd ei phle mewn gwrandawiad o flaen y Barnwr Peter Heywood.
Disgrifiodd y barnwr y twyll fel un "rhyfeddol" ac roedd wedi ei synnu nad oedd wedi ei ddarganfod yn gynt.


Football fans globally will have been caught up in the excitement of a new Premier League season in England, but in other leagues more than mere money and glory are at stake.

These are competitions in conflict-affected parts of the world, where playing football can be a life-threatening risk, and where continuing to take part and play makes a powerful statement.
For example, Manchester United's Europa League clash later this season against Ukrainian club Zorya Luhansk is set to be moved 560 miles across the country to Odessa on safety grounds.
The club has been unable to play in their home city of Luhansk for more than two years.
The Ukrainian side came fourth in their league last season. However, Luhansk and its surrounding areas have been embroiled in conflict since 2014, when Russia took control of the Crimean peninsula of southern Ukraine.
In the ensuing turmoil, three teams in Crimea were absorbed into the Russian league system, and the Shakhtar and Olympik clubs from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine were forced to relocate to Kiev because of the same conflict.
Despite that, Shakhtar currently leads the 12-team league.
However, even those Ukrainian difficulties seem relatively manageable compared with the dangers of holding football competitions in Afghanistan and Syria.
In Afghanistan, the fifth professional football season got under way last week. Since its creation in 2012, the Afghan Premier League (APL) has gained a toehold in the country, despite organisers saying the national security situation has worsened in that time.
"It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to still be where we are today," the league's co-founder Chris McDonald tells the BBC News website. "It has been a hard five years, but it has been great at the same time.
"Football is becoming a passion here, it brings a lot of joy and happiness, and is something that we are going to keep doing."
The league has added an extra sponsor for this season, while the Japanese government has provided cash for floodlighting to be in place for the first time next season.
Organisers say that on the playing front there is now more parity between the APL teams, as standards have risen with new football coaches from Tajikstan coming in.
Socially, McDonald says that football is keeping young men away from potential pitfalls such as extremism or drugs. Footballers have also been used in the interests of democracy, by encouraging people to vote in elections.
However, there are also challenges facing the league's organisers. The elected government is based in Kabul but the Taliban has strongholds in much of the south, east and west.
"When the league started out the security situation was better," admits the American, a former pro basketball player. "The security situation is more volatile now than when we started out, with the Taliban a very significant presence in a number of provinces."
He says this volatility may have stopped other businesses from coming forward to back the league.
Each Afghan team is created through a series of regional tournaments (known as the 2016 RAPL Green Field, or Maidan-e-Sabz) across eight regions of Afghanistan, to recruit the best young talent in the country.
All training sessions and matches take place at Kabul's AFF Stadium and Ghazi Stadium. The league action is compressed into a short time frame to make it more more financially and logistically viable.
"All the teams are centrally controlled by the league," says Mr McDonald. "It helps us with logistics and keeping up playing standards.  We may at some stage in the future consider individual or company ownership of clubs, but we do not have any plans for that at the moment."
The league is funded through its central sponsorship, with a small amount of revenues coming through gate money, while the Afghan FA also agrees to make up any funding shortfall.
Floodlights should hopefully boost interest next season, with the ability to sell the game to a prime-time TV audience.
James Montague has visited another war-torn country, Syria, to report on football there, and has written a book When Friday Comes, about football in the Middle East.
"You often find in conflict zones that they will cut the league down into manageable sizes," he says.
"This is what happened in Egypt, and they have that at the moment in the Syrian league. In the Middle East football is also a winter game, but they have a much shorter season than in Europe.
"Amazingly the league in Syria has still been going on," he adds. "What is really interesting is that historically all the big institutions had teams, and traditionally the army team, Al Jaish, was dominant."
He says that in 2008 the Syrian FA felt it should take on the power of the army, as it kept conscripting all the best young players in the country to get them in their team.
As a result Al Jaish had been completely dominant, competing in the Asian Champions League.
The Syrian FA then decided to privatise football, wanting to monetise the game, and attract increased revenues and TV rights.
"They actually allowed private businessmen to come in and buy teams," he says. "But it is very difficult to find out who owns the clubs at present."
As in Afghanistan, the entire league is now played in one city, Damascus, which Montague says remains relatively safe for hosting a football competition.
Teams taking part have represented clubs from Damascus and also from Homs, Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, Hasakah, Quamishli and Jableh, with Al Jaish again re-established as the leading team.
Al Jaish were crowned champions on the last game of the season this summer. For rivals Al Wahda (another team from Damascus) to have won, they needed to beat Al Shorta (the police team) and Al Jaish had to lose to Al Karama.
But Al Jaish won, and will once again enter the preliminary round of the Asian Champions League next season.
Whereas before, big games could attract gates of 50,000, now they might only attract a few hundred people. Admission fees are "negligible", says Montague.
"Playing football in Syria has been incredibly dangerous because of the patchwork of differently controlled areas. Several players have been attacked, some have lost their lives and others have been badly injured," he says.
"It also shows the enduring strength of football that league competition still carries on."


Burton Albion could find it "very difficult" keeping midfielder Jackson Irvine if the Championship club receives a good enough offer, says manager Nigel Clough.

Australia international Irvine, 24, scored 10 goals in 44 appearances last season after joining from Ross County.
"We'll see what happens in the next few weeks," Clough told BBC Radio Derby.
"When you score as many goals as him and play as well as he has done, speculation is inevitable."
Irvine, who is currently away with his national team, still has two years left to run on his existing contract at Burton.
Although Clough is keen to talk to Irvine about an improved contract, he knows the former Celtic player will be on the radar of other clubs after an impressive debut season in the Championship.
He continued: "We're realistic. If an offer comes in - and it's the right offer - and Jackson feels that it's a step up in progress for him, then it's very difficult for us to stand in his way.
"It should all become clearer in the next month."
Meanwhile, Burton have given a new one-year deal to reserve goalkeeper Harry Campbell.
The 21-year-old joined from Bolton Wanderers at the start of last season and follows first-choice keeper Stephen Bywater, striker Marvin Sordell, captain John Mousinho, centre-back Shaun Barker and veteran winger Lloyd Dyer in agreeing new contracts at the Pirelli Stadium.
Clough, who says there is no prospect at the moment of re-signing Fulham striker Cauley Woodrow and Leeds midfielder Luke Murphy on loan, is hoping to add to the number of new recruits with midfielder Matty Lund the only arrival so far this summer.
"We're getting closer - we've been doing a lot of talking with clubs and agents," Clough said. "We've got a couple of offers in at the moment and we're making progress, certainly."


Shares in mainland China jumped on Monday despite the world's second largest economy reporting weak export data over the weekend.

The country's exports fell by 8.3% in July, far worse than expected and the producer price index was down 5.4% from a year earlier
However, the benchmark Shanghai Composite ended up 4.9% at 3,928.42.
Investors were trading on the expectation of yet another round of stimulus policy.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index failed to pick up on the mainland's optimism and closed down 0.1% at 24,521.12.
In Japan, the Nikkei index was higher, closing 0.4% higher at 20,808.69.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6% to 5,509.20.
However, shares in medical company Ansell fell by more than 15% after the company gave a downbeat outlook. It said it was expecting strong headwinds from tough global economic conditions and the stronger US dollar.
In South Korea, the Kospi index closed down for a third consecutive session, finishing 0.4% lower at 2,003.17.


Former pharmaceutical chief executive Martin Shkreli has gone on trial in New York charged with fraud.

He is accused of fraud relating to a drug company he previously headed, Retrophin, and a hedge fund, where he was a manager.
He denies the charges but faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Mr Shkreli, 34, made headlines in 2015 when his firm raised the price of Daraprim, used by many Aids patients, from $13.50 per pill to $750.
That controversy is unrelated to the fraud trial.
Prosecutors accuse Mr Shkreli of running a fraudulent scheme where Retrophin assets were used to pay off debts after hedge fund MSMB Capital Management lost millions of dollars.
They allege that he cheated investors out of $11m (Â£8.6m).
Mr Shkreli was head of Turing Pharmaceuticals when the price hike of Daraprim occurred.
In a storm of media coverage, he was branded "the most hated man in America" and dubbed "Pharma bro", but he defended the price increase saying the drug was highly specialised.
He stepped down as head of Turing in 2015 following his arrest on the fraud charges. He has been free on bail pending the trial.
Daraprim treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems, and is used by Aids patients.


A gun used to injure an officer in Belfast last week had been used to attack police before, police say.

The attack happened at a petrol station on the Crumlin Road on 22 January. The officer was hit three times in the arm.
Police believe 10 shots were fired from an AK assault rifle in the attack.
A number of cars at the petrol station were also struck by gunfire. Police revisited the scene on Sunday night and appealed for information about a car used in the attack.
A car identical to the dark red Audi A4 Estate, registration number KNZ 2862, which detectives believe the attackers used to leave the scene, was parked in Flax Street during the hour-long revisit.
Det Supt Kevin Geddes said: "The investigation into the shooting of a community police officer in north Belfast last week is progressing, however, I'm still keen to trace the movements of this dark red Audi.
"We know it was parked in Flax Street at 7.02 pm last Sunday night and it left the street just after 7.30pm and was driven through the Oldpark area before being burnt out around 8pm in Culmore Gardens in West Belfast.
"I am particularly interested in its movements during January in west and north Belfast."
Det Supt Geddes described the attack as "cowardly" and "completely reckless".
"It is my belief that the weapon used to fire indiscriminately at the filling station has been used before to attack police in Belfast," he said.
"I believe it is an AK type assault rifle."
"It is a busy thoroughfare for motorists at that time of night and anyone could have been hit.
"There are a number of strike marks on the forecourt and on cars belonging to members of the public which could quite easily have killed or seriously injured local people, including the children who were at the station.
"Had any of the bullets hit the fuel pumps we may have also been facing casualties from an explosion."
A dissident republican group known as the New IRA said it carried out the shooting.
Three men aged, 30, 36, and 39 who were arrested following the attack were all released unconditionally.


Two restaurants have temporarily shut at a Liverpool shopping centre due to concerns over mice.

Nando's and Yo! Sushi voluntarily closed to customers on Wednesday.
It follows the reopening of Las Iguanas and Zizzi on Monday after they voluntarily shut last week over similar concerns, Liverpool City Council said.
A Liverpool One spokesman said the shopping centre was reviewing "all pest control procedures".
The centre's branch of Red Hot World Buffet appeared in court on Thursday for allegedly breaching hygiene rules and is due to stand trial at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on 17 May.
The restaurant temporarily closed last year because mice were said to be on the premises.
Chris Bliss, estate director at Liverpool One, said the shopping centre was working closely with its occupants and Liverpool City Council "to ensure high standards of hygiene".
"We have more than 50 cafes, bars and restaurants at Liverpool One, the majority of which have been awarded the top rating of five stars by the council's environmental health officers," he said.
Councillor Steve Munby said the council thinks there may be a "design feature" common to the premises affected that causes a "weakness" and "makes them vulnerable" to this sort of problem.
"The way they're built is that Liverpool One provides a box, within that box the tenant, the restaurant or whoever, builds another box and the infestation gets into the lining between the two boxes.
"What you need to have is some degree of access from the inside box into the lining to monitor for infestation and take steps to deal with it.
"Obviously they haven't been on top of things," he said.
The affected restaurants occupy the same floor at the shopping centre.
A spokesman for Yo! Sushi said they were "co-operating fully with the team at Liverpool One in their investigations and supporting them with any immediate remedial action they can implement".
A Nando's spokeswoman added: "We take health and safety very seriously at Nando's. As this is an issue affecting other areas of the shopping centre, we are working very closely with the centre management to resolve it as soon as possible."


Uefa has fined Croatia 100,000 euros (£77,000) after crowd trouble during their 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic at Euro 2016 on Friday.

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Referee Mark Clattenburg took the players off in Saint-Etienne when fans in the Croatia end threw flares.
The Croatia Football Federation has also been banned from selling tickets to fans identified as "hooligans".
But with tickets for Tuesday's game against Spain all sold, this sanction is deferred until after the tournament.
If there is further Croatian crowd trouble in that match - the final one in Group D for both sides - then the sanction would kick in immediately.
The fine is the second biggest handed out at the tournament after Russia were fined 150,000 euros last week.
Clattenburg took the players off in the 86th minute.
During the delay, some Croatia players went over to the fans to ask them to stop causing trouble.
A steward appeared to be hurt when a firework he was removing from the pitch went off.
Journalist Andy Mitten, who was at the game, told BBC Radio 5 live at the time: "I was in a section full of Croatia fans. The team was playing really well, everything was good, the people around me were happy but then I noticed a big line of police and soldiers building up in front of the Croatia end.
"It became clear they knew something was going to happen and it did happen. I saw fighting. It was horrible to watch. It went on for two or three minute.s"
It is thought that the fans were protesting against Croatia Football Federation vice-president Zdravko Mamic.
Mamic was arrested last July and subsequently charged with embezzling money from Dinamo Zagreb when he was the club's chief executive.
He denies the accusation, but the controversy has led some Croatian fans to believe the federation is corrupt.
In a post on Facebook, a Hajduk Split supporters' group said it intended to disrupt Tuesday's Group D match against Spain in Bordeaux.


Three armed, masked robbers broke into a petrol station before setting it alight, destroying the building.

The men used an axe to break through the door of Spaldwick service station in Cambridgeshire at 03:30 BST on Monday, stealing cash, cigarettes and a drinks machine.
They then set the store on fire. A member of staff on duty was shaken but unhurt, police said.
A burnt-out 4x4 car believed to have been used was found later in Corby.
The three men drove up to the station on the A14 westbound carriageway in a dark Honda 4x4 vehicle, Cambridgeshire Police said.
The station was open, but was offering a night-hatch only service, so the men broke in using an axe.
They told a member of staff, who was working alone, to show them where the safe was.
After taking money and other items they covered the rear of the store in an unknown fluid and set it alight.
Four fire crews were called out to tackle the blaze.
"The main building was well alight and heavy smoke was issuing. The forecourt was not affected and fuel pumps were isolated," a spokesman from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said.
A burnt-out vehicle was discovered in Northamptonshire at about 05:00 BST.
"We suspect this may have been the vehicle used in the crime so I would appeal for anyone who saw it before or after the crime to contact police," Det Sgt Sarah Sleaford said.
"This was a terrifying experience for the member of staff at the filling station, which was destroyed by the fire."