Manchester City, as expected, eased into the next round of the FA Cup on Sunday. They strangled the life out of the Championship side Huddersfield and put them to the sword for good measure, easing to a 5-0 win. The Terriers would have hoped to prove their bite is worse than their bark. Instead, they rolled over and had their tummies tickled by the defending Premier League champions. Phil Foden was again the star of the show, the 23-year-old grabbing his chance to play centrally with both hands in a player-of-the-match performance but the real talking point was Kevin De Bruyne’s return. De Bruyne has missed the past five months of action owing to a hamstring injury sustained in the opening-day win over Burnley. The 32-year-old came on in the 57th minute on Sunday much to the delight of the Huddersfield support. “Stop, stop! They’re already dead!” neutrals must have cried when the number 17 went up. As fate would have it, 17 minutes into his return De Bruyne had his first assist of the season, teeing up his Belgian compatriot, and fellow returnee, Jérémy Doku to score City’s fifth. In a campaign where City have failed to kill off opponents, relatively speaking, De Bruyne’s availability is a huge boost. That’s not to say others haven’t stepped up in his absence – Foden in particular has taken his game to another level having been moved infield following the Club World Cup – but that De Bryune has made at least 18 more key passes (99) than any other City player since the start of the 2022-23 Premier League this season, this despite registering just 23 minutes this term, speaks volumes. The issue for Pep Guardiola will be how does he work a system that enables both Foden and De Bruyne to work together? The logical decision is to revert to the 3-2-4-1 setup that he implemented in the second half of last season. De Bruyne ended the campaign with the most assists (16) and Erling Haaland won the Golden Boot (36) as the duo flourished in the City frontline. However, the mercurial Belgian excelled with the German Ilkay Gündogan alongside him in attack. City don’t have the luxury of Gündogan on the books any more following his departure to Barcelona and his exit leaves a gaping hole in the frontline. The 33-year-old so often came good in clutch moments in the final weeks of the season as City chased down domestic and continental glory. This is where Gündogan was in his element. So often the former Borussia Dortmund man would haul City to a crucial three points, or, as was the case in the FA Cup final last May, set the tempo for Guardiola’s side. In the wake of Gündogan’s departure, many were pondering who would fill the role of City’s clutch player in the run-in. Who better than De Bruyne to fill the void? While City remain five points behind the league leaders, Liverpool, albeit with a game in hand on the Reds, they remain very much in the hunt for the title even after De Bruyne’s absence. However, at the business end of the campaign, an experienced winner is of the utmost importance, particularly one who knows when to play the right pass or strike at the right moment to turn one point into three. This is perhaps the best way for Guardiola to maximise De Bruyne’s talents without upsetting the apple cart. Granted, De Bruyne is a tried and trusted performer under the Spaniard, yet City’s creator-in-chief turns 33 in June. Having scored and assisted in both wins over Arsenal and the 4-1 victory over Liverpool last April, De Bruyne rises to the occasion when needs must and the same will be applicable in the second half of this campaign. It’s no secret either that City transform in the final months of the season to steamroll opponents on their march to glory. What better time to unleash a fully fit De Bruyne than in the crunch games as City hunt down a fourth successive Premier League title. That way Guardiola can still continue with Foden in a central role, where the England international has excelled, and utilise the attacking talents of De Bruyne when the going gets tough to haul the treble winners over the line. One of the major criticisms City faced in their failure to convince Gündogan to stay was that they lost a key player that had the habit of dragging them to glory. With Foden coming into his own in De Bruyne’s absence, KDB may be the one to succeed Gündogan as City’s elder MVP in their ongoing pursuit of silverware. FA Cup team of the third round