The worrying reality for the rest of the Premier League – Man City are still in pre-season mode

Return of Rodri, John Stones, Phil Foden and Kyle Walker after the international break will make the champions even stronger

It was the simplest of phrases from Pep Guardiola. Yet its significance will send a chill through the rest of the Premier League.
“Pre-season is over, today officially. The real season starts after the international break,” said Guardiola after Manchester City’s 3-1 win over West Ham at the London Stadium.
City have occasionally been guilty of starting the season slowly. Slowly in this case is a relative term, in comparison to the momentum they build after Christmas each year.
Not only have City begun this campaign in effervescent form, with nine points and nine goals from three games, it now appears, according to Guardiola, that they have not actually started at all.
With players making staggered returns from the European Championship, squad-shaping transfer business to conclude and the rapid hiatus of an international break, Guardiola looks upon Sept 14 as the real beginning to his side’s season and has shaped their fitness work accordingly. Yet here they are already, ominously taking maximum points from their first three matches.
Along with the incomparable Erling Haaland, midfielder Kevin De Bruyne exemplified his team’s energy and mental sharpness. Haaland had the summer off; De Bruyne had his break last season, missing five months with a hamstring injury.
“I feel good. Last year was up and down, which is normal after being out so long. I always had the idea that if the Euros went well physically and I had a rest after them, I would come back refreshed,” said De Bruyne. “Everybody is a bit surprised with the way we’re playing. A lot of the guys came late. I can’t really explain it, but we’re playing good football.
“Obviously here and there are some mistakes, but also we’re training really hard for the moment in August. We feel good. Erling is the most prolific striker I’ve played with. I’ve played with really good strikers like Kun [Sergio Aguero], [Samuel] Eto’o, Fernando Torres. It’s hard to compare but the stats speak for themselves. He’s started the season on fire. Let’s hope he maintains it.”
Guardiola’s rationale behind using the three-game mini-season as a final tune-up while giving the likes of Rodri, John Stones, Phil Foden and Kyle Walker space in which to breathe following their respective Euros campaigns, is that City’s post-break schedule is bulging with fixtures.
Guardiola said: “We need all the players ready because the schedule that comes from now on until the end of the season …”The sentence was left unfinished. Its inference was clear. If City can maintain their freshness into the autumn, winter and beyond, their greatest challenge may come from within.
Guardiola is prepared for that, too. He added: “After nine years together, we know exactly the things we have to do every single day. We don’t have to tell the players, it’s completely the opposite to complacency.”
Meanwhile, Foden is likely to withdraw from the England squad for the forthcoming Nations League matches because of illness. Asked if the player will join up with the squad this week, Guardiola said: “I don’t think so, right now. I don’t know but he doesn’t feel well, otherwise he would be here. But it’s the national teams which decide.
“He doesn’t feel good in the stomach and has a little virus, but the people said that after the antibiotics he will be fine.”