There is bad news for Liverpool and Arsenal, who aspire to win the league title after three titles in a row (and five in six years) from Manchester City.
Guardiola's team is in fourth gear, De Bruyne has also recovered and is coming off 11 victories in a row, including the club world title.
The fall of Citizens in the autumn is a distant phase.
In the standings, they still lead Liverpool by one point, but City have a game to recover and, after the show of strength shown in Copenhagen, they are clear favorites in the big Premier League match with Chelsea.
Pochettino's blues have been struggling for a few years, despite the pharaonic expenses: they are tenth with 10 games lost out of 24, two knockouts in the last three games.
The only feat of the season was the 4-4 draw in the first leg with Man City with an equalizer in the 95th minute.
It is very difficult for it to happen again.
The rivals Liverpool and Arsenal hope otherwise, struggling with modest opponents such as Brentford and Burnley.
Fighting for fourth place are Tottenham (who have been waiting for the scudetto for 63 years) and Zaniolo's emerging Aston Villa.
It won't be a complicated day, on paper, having to face Wolves and Fulham.
Saturday:
1.30pm Brentford-Liverpool,
4pm Burnley-Arsenal, Fulham-Aston Villa, Newcastle-Bournemouth, Tottenham-Wolves,
6.30pm Man City-Chelsea.
Sunday:
3pm Sheffield-Brighton,
5.30pm Luton-Man United.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA