Pep Guardiola believes the players returning from the World Cup are in better condition than the few first-team stars who didn't go to Qatar.
City play their first game in 41 days on Thursday when they face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round and Guardiola will have some of his World Cup stars back in contention.
Rodri, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji returned to training earlier this week and the players who represented England and Portugal are also due back before the fixture against Jurgen Klopp's side.
