Phil Foden redemption vs Nottingham Forest gives Man City something they've not had since the World Cup

Pep Guardiola told Manchester City fans who doubted his various tactical experiments over the years that he makes his decisions using the wealth of information available to him that supporters simply don't see.

In short - and phrased respectfully - the manager knows more than the rest of us. Few can argue with that, and Guardiola has earned the right to tinker and be called a genius when it works.

One thing Guardiola openly admitted to not knowing, however, was how the World Cup would affect City. Two months on from the World Cup final, and only now can Guardiola really say all of his City players are 'back'. Now he knows everything.

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61 days since Julian Alvarez lifted the game's greatest prize, the Argentine was on the bench at the City Ground, in the Blues' first visit since 2001. Three days on from beating Arsenal to haul themselves back into the big title race and Guardiola went strong again. This was as close to Guardiola's pre-World Cup team as he's fielded in the 14 games since the season restarted.

Riyad Mahrez has been one of the strongest players since the break but was dropped to the bench against Nottingham Forest to facilitate the return of Phil Foden from injury. Other top performers since Christmas, like Rico Lewis, Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake were also among the substitutes.

On the pitch were a back three of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker - all players who took longer than others for different reasons to return to form. Kevin De Bruyne's place is no longer guaranteed after a poor World Cup may have had its after-effects, and Bernardo Silva has had to play at left-back to return to the starting XI.

At the start of 2023,