City Watch: City's stars shine for England

With the International break in full flow, there isn’t much Manchester City related news to talk about in this week’s column. 

Still, one positive is that there will be no more breaks until March 2026, so plenty of football to talk about before then!

One thing I thought I was going to be writing about was the result and hopefully conclusion of the 115 charges, something that has been looming for a while now. 

It’s been almost a year since the hearing wrapped up, and you’d have thought there would’ve been a result by now.

I fully appreciate that there are a lot of complexities to the case, most of all, the fact that there are so many charges, all of which will hold a different weight and come with a unique punishment if City are found guilty. 

I had seen a lot of noise across social media, which I understand can be very fickle, that the result was potentially going to be released during this international break, but we’re still waiting. 

At this point, I just want the result to be out, whatever it may be. 

This has been hanging over our heads for almost three years, so there must be a conclusion at some point soon.

Since I can’t really waffle on about the case anymore, let’s talk about the England games and City players’ involvement in them. 

England won their two remaining qualification games against Serbia and Albania, meaning that Tuchel’s side will be heading to the World Cup next year after a 100% record in the qualifiers.

Nico O’Reilly earned his first start in an England shirt in the first game against Serbia, and he followed that up with another start against Albania. 

I said in the last break I was disappointed to see him not get his first cap considering how good he’s been for City this season, so it was fantastic to watch him earn his spot and hopefully will get his chance to play in the States next summer.

Phil Foden, John Stones and James Trafford were all included in Tuchel’s final selection of 2025, with Foden bagging an assist in Eze’s wonder goal against Serbia, and John Stones helping the Three Lions to two more clean sheets.

Now that the Premier League is almost back, City have a trip to Newcastle to play Eddie Howe’s side on Saturday afternoon. 

It’s the first time since Covid that I won’t be going the St James’, and with the last few games in Tyneside ending in absolute fireworks, this one should be a cracker. 

The Blues sit just four points behind Arsenal and looked to have regained their great form. 

So…. who wants it more?