Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City cavalry return to action for busy match as Erling Haaland beats Brentford

As if Manchester City’s 100 percent start wasn’t intimidating enough, the rest of Pep Guardiola’s cavalry are also coming over the hill for the big games ahead.

Erling Haaland almost single-handedly beat Brentford on Saturday with two sublime performances, but the manager was also pleased with the first starts of Kyle Walker, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan, the return of Rodri as a half-time substitute and the fact that Phil Foden was back on the bench after an illness.

They are all available for the Champions League opener against Internazionale on Wednesday and the Premier League match against Arsenal on Sunday.

City play six times in 18 days before the next international break and Guardiola’s increased options do not bode well for their rivals.

Although Haaland has scored nine goals in four games this season – more than any team except Manchester City – against Chelsea, Ipswich, West Ham and Brentford, who scored after 22 seconds through Yoane Wissa, the manager is pleased to have a wider pool of talent at his disposal, including Rodri, who has been injured since winning the European Championship with Spain.

Erling Haaland almost single-handedly defeated Brentford with two sublime finishes at the Etihad

Rodri returned to action as a half-time substitute to give City a boost ahead of a busy week

‘Rodri came in and played really well,’ Guardiola (right) nodded. ‘He’s so important. Gundo, Kyle and John had extra minutes. Phil hasn’t had many training sessions but I’m happy he’s back. We need him badly.

‘We’re going to play the best team in Italy with a big lead and then we’ll play Arsenal, the best contender.

that we’ve had the last two seasons. And then Tuesday-Sunday-Tuesday, more games.

“It is what it is. We have to adapt and go. We have to rotate.”

Off the field, City will today focus on the hearing into the club’s 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.

But Guardiola may be even more concerned about the fixture list congestion created by the expansion of the Champions League and Club World Cup next summer.

Pep Guardiola may be more immediately concerned about the fixtures being crowded

“It’s so tough,” Guardiola said. “You don’t just think about this season, you think about next season. Let’s say we go to the Club World Cup final and the Community Shield is maybe three weeks later.

‘When do we have a holiday? There are no breaks in the winter. If we’re lucky, we get two weeks and then we have to go back to the next season. There’s no end to it. You have to take away some games. You can’t just keep adding game after game and expect everything to stay the same as it was.’