Jack Grealish celebrations speak volumes as Man City demolish Salford City

Back to normal for Manchester City?

Not really, but it is three wins in a row for the first time since October and a safe passage through to the FA Cup fourth round with a spanking 8-0 win for a much-changed XI. And with Kyle Walker mysteriously out of the entire squad for 'tactical' reasons amid links to a January move away, the club's rebuild could be gathering more momentum.

Abdukodir Khusanov will be a City player and the Blues are advancing on a deal for Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush as well as in talks with Palmeiras for young defender Vitor Reis, but there are plenty of players already in the squad who had their own points to prove against Salford. Apart from Walker, everyone who needed to go a chance.

Walker's absence was all the more surprising given Pep Guardiola named just two defenders in his team - Nathan Ake and youngster Jahmai Simpson-Pusey. Filling in the backline were Matheus Nunes, playing for the first time since disaster struck him in the Manchester derby, and Nico O'Reilly - a No.10 asked to play at left-back.

The selection drew memories of Guardiola's first season in Manchester, when he picked Jesus Navas and Gael Clichy as his wingers for a Premier League game at Middlesbrough to make the point to Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane that attacking prowess alone was not enough to get them into the team if their defensive application wasn't good enough. In this campaign, with probably the most issues since that first year, it may not be a terrible time to make the point again.

Still, it looked like a recipe for chaos and there was one first-half minute where Salford were in not once but twice, cutting through the defensive lines and then doing so again from the resulting throw. Different