Man City have finally done what Pep Guardiola wanted after the World Cup

Pep Guardiola had one message from the start of the season: nobody can predict what will happen after the World Cup.

With a six-week break for the World Cup for the first time, City's entire calendar for two years has been shifted around, after a two-year disruption for the 2020 break in the season due to the pandemic. Guardiola has managed to navigate those challenges relatively successfully (as back-to-back Premier League titles attest), although even he admitted he couldn't predict what would happen in 2023.

As well as possessing doubts about his team's readiness to compete for a third successive title, Guardiola will have had to rely on all of his knowledge to get City to a position where they are still fighting for titles by the March international break.

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Last week, he set City the challenge of winning three in a row to stay within touching distance of Arsenal in the Premier League, book a Champions League quarter-final place, and progress to the FA Cup last four. 14 goals, none conceded, and three wins is better than the manager will have hoped for.

And looking at the bigger picture, City are doing what Guardiola has wanted since the autumn, when he admitted his side will have to win the title in a different way this season - as they couldn't rely on a lengthy winning run around October, November and December that have characterised recent successful campaigns. If they were going to do that, it would have to come fairly quickly after the Christmas resumption of the season.

Since the restart, a number of players - as well as Guardiola - expressed the need to put one of those winning runs together, but