The daffodils that crowd the central reservation of Princess Road, the artery that flows into Manchester from the west and skirts Moss Side and Manchester City's old home at Maine Road, are beginning to fade and wilt, the clocks have gone forward and on Monday, April will be upon us.
It is the season of rebirth and English football is waiting for Pep Guardiola's side to put the hammer down and accelerate away from the rest of the field at the top of the Premier League because that, too, has become one of the rites of spring in the age of sky blue domination.