As families count down to Christmas, Manchester City are counting down to the chance to become World Champions - a feat which could be achieved three days before Father Christmas arrives.
When City return to action this weekend, they face 11 fixtures in 36 days, in three competitions, across three countries, and two continents. They face Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa in their next three Premier League fixtures, and also have two final Champions League group games to contest. Then, there is the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
City have made their ambitions clear over winning the Club World Cup - a competition they have never played in - to crown themselves World Champions. But as it stands, they do not have a fit, world-class starting XI available.
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Injuries and withdrawals over the international break put the current number of available players to Pep Guardiola at 14, including youngster Oscar Bobb, out-of-favour Kalvin Phillips, and third-choice goalkeeper Scott Carson. If City were heading to Saudi Arabia this week - even though they are the clear favourites - they would find the tournament difficult.
But there is a month until they do fly out and seven further games to play. They will hope that none of the six injuries picked up this week are significant enough to keep them being an issue in a month's time, while there was hope from Pep Guardiola that Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Sergio Gomez would all be nearing a return soon after the international break.
De Bruyne has been scheduled to return around the New Year, but Guardiola was positive and said he is recovering slightly ahead of schedule when he last gave an update. Stones was not definitively ruled out of the Liverpool game this weekend when Guardiola spoke before the international break.
Assuming most players return from injury, and no further issues are sustained this month, Guardiola will hope to take a strong squad to face Urawa Red Diamonds or Club Leon on December 19. If they win, they will then face the winner of the other semi-final, where Fluminense will face Al Ahly, Al-Ittihad or Auckland City. Lose, and they face the loser of that semi-final on the same day.
Having De Bruyne back for the tournament would be a bonus, but not make-or-break. Still, City will want to become World Champions by fielding their best team. The Champions League winners often win this competition, although there are plenty of banana skins by taking on relatively unknown teams with nothing to lose, and similar habits of winning in their respective leagues.
So Guardiola has a month to work out who his best centre-back pairing are, and who he can bring in if he wants to rotate. Is Josko Gvardiol the chosen left-back going forward, or could Nathan Ake shrug off his injury and start another major final? Rodri is the undroppable pivot in midfield, but who partners him - and if De Bruyne is back, who drops out?
Does Julian Alvarez continue as number ten? Does Phil Foden go back to the wing, and who is preferred between Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku?
Guardiola has these questions to ask, and normally has time over the winter period to experiment before settling on his best, trophy-winning XI for the run-in. This season is different, with a World Cup to win in December, and a best XI to settle on far earlier than he is used to.
