Pep Guardiola welcomed back six more players to first team training on Wednesday as Manchester City prepare to face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round tomorrow.
The fixture list could hardly have thrown up a more tantalising fixture for both sides to restart domestic football after the mid-season World Cup interval, but it is the Premier League champions who face the greatest squad challenge, having had no fewer than 16 players involved in the tournament in Qatar.
Group stage exits for Belgium and Germany saw Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan return to the Etihad earlier than expected and Nathan Ake, Rodrigo and Manuel Akanji also rejoined the group at the start of the week, but now Guardiola has integrated more of his internationals back into the squad, raising questions around what sort of team he might put out against the Reds tomorrow.
