Pep Guardiola and Gareth Southgate give Man City's Kyle Walker two routes to Leipzig salvation

You must wonder whether Kyle Walker regrets his wild kick at RB Leipzig yet.

It was a split-second decision in a game where Manchester City had nothing riding on the result. In a frustrating game, Walker hacked at his man from behind and got an early bath. As he walked back down the tunnel, he can't have imagined it was a challenge that would continue to follow him three months on.

Pep Guardiola has repeated his anger at Walker's red card more than once, especially considering UEFA subsequently hit him with a three-game ban. Now, Walker has been left out of the England squad just nine months before the World Cup. Coincidence?

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Due to injury, suspension and rotation, Walker has started just eight on 19 games for City since that sending off, with Joao Cancelo, John Stones and CJ Egan-Riley all playing at right-back in his place.

Guardiola also picked Walker out for his defending in the defeat against Tottenham, so suddenly his position as undroppable right-back is severely under threat at City.

His immediate challenge will be to regain Guardiola's trust and his place in the City starting XI for the Premier League run-in and quarter-finals in the Champions League and FA Cup. He might have been hoping that he could kickstart that process with England alter this month, but Southgate's decision to drop him leaves him in limbo for club and country.

In fairness, Southgate said Walker will be recalled in June as he continues to try and keep four world-class right-backs happy. If Walker was to miss any squad, one with two underwhelming friendlies and three more squads before the World Cup is probably a good one to sit out.

"With Kyle, I had a chat