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Manchester City's players and staff could have been forgiven for thinking the world was against them for much of this season.

While Liverpool's relentless pace at the top of the Premier League table would have been difficult to stop regardless, City have had their fair share of misfortune this term, from injuries to VAR controversies.

But perhaps the tide is turning just in time to give Pep Guardiola's side a run at the competition the Catalan cherishes most and which could yet make this season as memorable as the two before it.

Guardiola has been a supporter of the idea of a winter break in the Premier League, but it's timing wasn't great for his side. After two weeks off City were expected to play once - against Leicester City - before heading to Madrid to face Real in the first leg of the last-16 Champions League tie.

While many managers would be glad of the rest, Guardiola has always valued rhythm for his players. It's a word and a theme he's constantly returning to in his press conference and he did last month, when explaining why he wasn't going to make wholesale changes for cup games against Fulham and Manchester United.

“The problem with [Real] Madrid is after 12 or 13 days rest, we have just one game against Leicester. One game before Madrid. The players need rhythm," Guardiola said.

Thanks to the chaos that Storm Ciara wreaked last weekend, it may just be problem solved. On the face of it City's winter break being eaten into for the rearranged game against West Ham - now confirmed for next Wednesday - might look less than an ideal.

But it now gives City two games in four days to find rhythm and confidence ahead of a trip to the Bernabeu. A commanding performance against West Ham last Sunday may have been out of the system by the time City strode into the Spanish capital 17 days later, now there is just a week between those games.

City's players will still be well rested by the time they face the Hammers at the Etihad a week today and Guardiola will be delighted at the opportunity it has presented to him.

The Champions League is City's priority now that the defence of their Premier League title is effectively over. Matching Liverpool would have been difficult, but there is a feeling within the squad that the 22-point gap has been exaggerated by misfortune.

"I think little details make a huge difference and if you look at us this season, all the little details never went out way. It's not an excuse, we should've done better, and we are very disappointed in ourselves," Bernardo Silva explained before the game against West Ham fell victim to the weather.

"If you look at the injuries we've had, the VAR decisions that never went our way and I'm not complaining, but in football, it sometimes goes your way and sometimes not. We create 30 chances per game and we score one or two goals. The opponents, they go close once or twice and they score one or two goals as well but the game is there."

Maybe this stroke of fortune is a sign that City are about to get the rub of the green between now and May.