Manchester City canter into May on the back of a devastatingly successful April.

Pep Guardiola’s side kicked off the month with a 4-1 thumping of long-term title rivals Liverpool before swatting aside this season’s closest challengers Arsenal by the same scoreline. Manchester City breezed past Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and scarcely broke out of second gear to reach the club’s first FA Cup final in four years.

Fighting across three fronts heading into May once again, here’s what lies ahead for City after moving onto the Premier League summit with a 2-1 victory over Fulham on Sunday.

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Guardiola keeps a statue of his former Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff in his office at Manchester City, as a reminder of the Dutchman’s overriding influence on his every decision.

Back when David Moyes was in charge of Manchester United, Cruyff was one of the few voices sympathetic towards the Scot. „Moyes is a good coach,“ he told The Guardian, „just not for Man Utd.” That assessment has been tested during an underwhelming domestic season at West Ham but Moyes could all but secure Premier League survival for the Hammers with an admittedly unlikely win at the Etihad on Wednesday.

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Javi Gracia’s personal record against Guardiola as a player (one win from eight on-pitch meetings) is only marginally better than his managerial head-to-head record with the Catalan (played three, lost three).

The last time Gracia and Guardiola duked it out on the grass, the former’s Villarreal raced into a 3-0 lead against Barcelona. Guardiola teed up two of Barcelona’s goals as the Catalans hauled themselves level before Jorge Lopez nudged the hosts ahead. Patrick Kluivert completed his hat-trick of goals – and Guardiola’s hat-trick of assists – in stoppage time to seal a 4-4 draw. More of that on May 6, please.

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More than a quarter of all the European Cups handed out since 1989 have been lifted by one of Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti as players or managers (nine out of the last 34).

Only one of these two members of European royalty will reach the final in June but whoever does is set to be favourites against either Milan club in Istanbul.

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Guardiola’s first-ever trip to Goodison Park ended in a thumping 4-0 victory for the hosts – then led by the Catalan’s former Barcelona roommate Ronald Koeman back in 2017.

This current, relegation-scrapping, iteration of Everton under Sean Dyche, may struggle to score another four goals before the end of a demoralising season. Guardiola has won all six of his subsequent visits to the blue half of Merseyside and, with a league title in his sights, can scarcely afford to not pick up a seventh on the spin.

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The last-gasp heroics in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu of last season’s Champions League semi-final between this duo naturally dwarfs the rest of the tie, but City were 2-0 up after 11 minutes of the opening match in Manchester, eventually winning 4-3.

In fact, Real Madrid have never beaten Manchester City at the Etihad, losing in the round of 16 behind closed doors in 2020 after being held to draws on their first pair of visits to east Manchester.

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Frank Lampard may forever go down in history as the only manager to ever lose a Premier League match to Nathan Jones. However, he can boast another unique feat which is far more impressive.

Lampard – who spent a forgotten season in Manchester City’s midfield eight years ago – is the only manager to avoid defeat at the Etihad Stadium since the World Cup, steering Everton to a fortuitous 1-1 draw on New Year’s Eve. It will take another dollop of good fortune to replicate the feat with Chelsea.

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