Man City 2-1 Watford: Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes net as Pep Guardiola’s side advance to Carabao Cup fourth round

In a strange twist, Manchester City could have used the dark arts a bit last night. A bit of a waste of time, running out the clock – because Watford threatened to send this to penalties a few minutes in.

Back here. It was only 49 hours ago. Forty-nine hours ago Manchester City bounced off this pitch, revelling in Arsenal’s acrimony. Too early to be back, that’s for sure.

But that’s where this ridiculous calendar finds itself. Either City played this game here and now, or moved it to Vicarage Road. Pep Guardiola didn’t want to give up any competitive advantage – which is his prerogative – so 49 hours after Arsenal’s drain came a drain of a different kind and the night almost dragged on.

“Do we have a game tomorrow?” Guardiola asked lightheartedly afterwards. “I’ll give you the day off.”

With a first start to the season for Phil Foden – valuable minutes for John Stones and Jack Grealish too – not all bad then. And yet, against the backdrop of players’ demands for more rest, the time between games must have made those involved feel uneasy.

Jeremy Doku opened the scoring after five minutes following a mistake by the visitors’ defensive line

Matheus Nunes doubled the lead with a precise shot from 20 yards after 38 minutes

Not as awkward as it might have been when Tom Ince scored to set up a lively finale. Meanwhile, 1,100 miles away, Rodri was in a hotel room in Barcelona after a third round of tests on the serious knee injury he sustained on Sunday. There he was awaiting surgery and Guardiola admitted he is out for a “long time” but they are waiting in blind hope for second opinions. City fear the worst, that their metronome will be unavailable for the rest of the season.

“He is irreplaceable,” Guardiola said. “But I will find a solution. There is an alternative, we will do it. When a team does not play with the best midfielder in the world for a long, long time, it is a big blow.”

How they will cope without him remains to be seen, with Rodri not due to feature against an opponent who have faltered somewhat in the Championship after a strong start to Tom Cleverley’s first full campaign as manager.

Nico O’Reilly expects sixth place to become his own in the coming years, but for a youngster who impressed Guardiola in the summer, it still feels too early.

Yet it seemed almost impossible to outshine O’Reilly, a rising talent from City’s youth academy, in his first professional start outside the Community Shield. But somehow the 16-year-old managed it.

Kaden Braithwaite is not a name 90 per cent of the crowd at Etihad Stadium will have heard an hour before kick-off. He didn’t tour America in the summer and, while vice-captain of the Under-18s, had never trained under Guardiola until Monday.

Braithwaite wasn’t given an easy introduction, with Guardiola switching him between left-back and centre-back depending on when City had possession. But for a youngster who joined the club at eight, like the experienced Rico Lewis on the other flank, that’s probably all he’s ever known.

It was the Portuguese’s (right) first goal for City in 34 games since his £53million move from Wolves

Nico O’Reilly (centre) will imagine that sixth place could be his in the coming years, although it still feels too early

Braithwaite breathed a sigh of relief when former Rochdale striker Kwadwo Baah pushed him off the ball in what was deemed overzealous fashion in the build-up to Stefan Ortega’s shot past him. A letdown and a reminder of the leap in physicality. ‘For me it’s a good goal,’ said Cleverley. ‘It may look aggressive but it’s shoulder to shoulder. It’s disappointing.’

Another former academy player, James McAtee, had created City’s first goal after five minutes when he harassed the Watford defence, with Jeremy Doku sending the ball into Bond’s far corner.

McAtee was involved in the second, keeping the movement going doggedly and setting up Lewis to serve Matheus Nunes six minutes before half-time – his first goal for the club.

Cleverley’s Hornets, a mix of young and old, were sharp on the counter-attack – apart from Baah’s disallowed effort, Vakoun Bayo headed a ball wide – but City’s edge did enough. Even after Ince curled a superb shot into Ortega’s far corner with four minutes left.

Tom Ince made for a nerve-wracking ending by curling the ball into Ortega’s far corner with four minutes remaining

‘This time last year I was the Under-18s away manager at Fleetwood,’ Cleverley added. ‘Every young manager is inspired by how Pep transformed football in this country. It was an honour.’

City will field Erling Haaland again for Saturday’s kick-off against Newcastle United after the striker was granted compassionate leave to attend the funeral of his good friend Ivar Eggja in Norway.

Foden filled the false nine role in Haaland’s absence, slotting in nicely with McAtee who was just next to him, and there will be more nights when Guardiola has to fall back on old habits. Because Haaland can’t start them all. That’s the way it is these days, no one can start them all. The one who was most likely to start them all broke his knee. Play a lot more with this kind of turnaround and a few others will do it too.