Bristol City EFL Cup semi-final begins crunch week for Manchester City's quadruple chances

Mention the word ‘quadruple’ to Pep Guardiola today and his response would probably be no different from the one he offered three weeks ago, when he dismissed the possibility of Manchester City winning on four separate fronts as an “illusion”.

Yet this is a manager who wept while the world was watching in 2009 when his Barcelona side lifted every trophy they could in a calendar year. The thought of four major honours in a single season – an unprecedented achievement for an English club – will certainly have crossed his mind.

He would never explicitly admit that much, and certainly not in January, but there are subtle signs that he is at least beginning to entertain the idea.

Take this weekend's comments after the comfortable win over Newcastle United. “This midweek was the first week since August we had a long week,” Guardiola noted following City's 3-1 victory, which had come six full days after their last outing, the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. “If you go through, that is not going to happen again until the end [of the season].”

Even if the City manager believes winning four trophies is “unrealistic”, as suggested a few weeks back, the excellence his players are showing out on the pitch is forcing him to plan for that eventuality.

There is a problem, though, and in fairness to Guardiola, he saw it coming. While dismissing those quadruple hopes, Guardiola appeared to exaggerate at one point by claiming he would need “32 players to play well in four competitions”. He does, however, need more than 24. That is the current size of City’s senior squad, even when including long-term absentee Benjamin Mendy and young bucks like Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz.

This lack of options in reserve meant that, when back-to-back domestic cup games came a fortnight ago against Burnley and Bristol City in the FA and EFL Cups respectively, City could only name lightly-rotated line-ups. The hope that some elder members of the squad would get some much-needed rest went unfulfilled, particularly against Bristol City when Sergio Aguero was required to step up from the substitutes’ bench and score a stoppage-time winner.

The 2-1 first leg victory means, in turn, that Guardiola probably would not name a weakened side for tonight’s [Tuesday’s] second leg, even if he could. Lee Johnson’s Championship promotion contenders have, as Mendy’s latest stand-in at left back Oleksandr Zinchenko remarked, “shown they can beat City.” What with Bristol City knocking Manchester United out at Ashton Gate in the last round, this second instalment of the semi-final simply cannot be taken as a formality.

The schedule does not let up, either. Starting tonight [Tuesday], City play four games in the space of 12 days, with an FA Cup fourth round tie against another high-flying Championship team in Cardiff City to come. After the refusal to meet either Arsenal or Alexis Sanchez’s financial demands, Aguero remains their only natural option up front until Gabriel Jesus’ return. Those who stand in for the Argentine have racked up minutes themselves and are perhaps equally in need of a rest.

Reinforcements may still come. Bids are being considered for West Bromwich Albion’s Jonny Evans and Fernandinho’s long-term replacement Fred, though the latter deal may only be fully completed in the summer. Even then, the squad will be spread thin. It was telling that when trying to explain City’s loss of their unbeaten record, John Stones first defence was fatigue. “You know it takes a toll, no matter how much you rotate the squad.”

As City prepare for back-to-back cup fixtures against game opposition, do not be too surprised if, like at Anfield, tiredness takes its toll. We may be about to see how much of an “illusion” our quadruple talk was after all.