The good news for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City is that the most difficult season of the great Catalan’s nine in charge is at an end. Less encouraging is that the next one starts in less than three weeks.
It is to Guardiola’s credit a Premier League title defence that was effectively over by new year has reached its conclusion with Champions League football assured for next season.
To win two consecutive league games in the wake of their abject performance in the FA Cup final says something for a tenacity and competitive spirit that clearly endures at the Etihad Stadium, at a time when so much of what was previously taken for granted has fallen away.