Haaland roulette
Over the last three weeks, Pep Guardiola has yet again been the enemy of Fantasy Football managers everywhere with his cryptic updates on Erling Haaland, who continues to battle a foot injury. Since coming off in Dortmund at half-time, Haaland has missed two games, played 27 minutes off the bench last weekend, and then stayed among the substitutes on Wednesday against Chelsea - not even stepping foot onto the pitch to warm up.
Still an injury doubt, Haaland has one last City fixture before the World Cup to get on the pitch and increase his ridiculous tally of 23 goals. On the flip side, should City risk any aggravation of his injury - especially with two upcoming Norway friendlies next week - just for a game they should be confident of winning without him?
Alvarez's final chance
If Haaland is still injured, City have a perfect replacement in the form of in-form striker Julian Alvarez. With three goals and two assists in his last two games, Alvarez has stepped out of Haaland's shadow in the last fortnight and proved his promise with a run of games. On form, he may even justify a start ahead of Haaland on Saturday - and few fans would complain if he did. For the first time, he is in a position to start ahead of Haaland on merit rather than fitness.
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There is also some urgency to Alvarez's situation, as he will know Haaland will be fitter and fresher after the World Cup, having had around five weeks off. That will drop him back down to second choice when domestic football resumes, so any minutes against Brentford could be his last chance in some time to show his abilities to Guardiola.
Guardiola's World Cup admission looms
This week, Guardiola admitted it's natural for players to be trying to avoid getting injured ahead of the World Cup, and the reality of that was clear when Aymeric Laporte was replaced on Wednesday as a precaution against Chelsea. With most players now confirmed to be heading to Qatar, they don't have squad places to win anymore - but they do have places to lose. There are three important points on offer this weekend, but as Guardiola said - winning or losing against Brentford won't affect the Premier League title race. It could, though, end someone's World Cup dreams.
That could see players like Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Gomez and Cole Palmer given more minutes as they are not heading to Qatar, or maybe more rotation of those players confirmed to be going to the World Cup this week to spread the minutes out.
Grealish can build on Chelsea appearance
It's been some week for Jack Grealish, who got called up to his first World Cup, and played his best football for a while in the win against Chelsea. Guardiola curiously said he has been telling Grealish to be more attacking and try to score rather than play the easy pass - something he did brilliantly on Wednesday. However, in recent months, Grealish and Guardiola have both stressed the need for him to play the useful role of keeping possession and creating overloads.
If Guardiola now wants him to take those shackles off, though, the Brentford game could be a great chance to build on the Chelsea progress and get his second goal of the season. If he can play his way back into the form that fans are familiar with from his Aston Villa days and Euro 2020, he could also send a message to Gareth Southgate that he deserves to be a starter for England at the World Cup.
Eyes on Wolves
City will not finish the first part of the season in a position any lower than second, but could leapfrog Arsenal with a win against Brentford. To stand top for the next six weeks, however, they will need Arsenal to drop points at Wolves later on Saturday evening. Arsenal were beaten by Brighton in the Carabao Cup, while Wolves beat Leeds and have a new manager to impress.
Guardiola is happy to be within touching distance of the top of the table at this point, labelling the first 13 league games so far a success. There is a solid platform to build on - but what a mental advantage it would be to be top of the pile for the next six weeks.
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