Wherever Pep Guardiola is watching the World Cup on TV, he'll feel relatively relieved at how it has progressed so far.
Guardiola has spent the last few months warning of the season-defining effects of a mid-season World Cup on his Manchester City title challenge, encouraging a faster start to guarantee points on the board before the unknowns when the Premier League resumes.
Already, Guardiola has the benefit of knowing Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Stefan Ortega will be available for the Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool having had a six week break. With the World Cup group stages coming to a close, Guardiola will soon start to turn his attentions back to City, and he will be buoyed at how his players have got on in Qatar so far.
