Pep Guardiola will be pretty satisfied with his first three months in English football in charge of Manchester City.

His side are third in the Premier League having won seven of their first 11 games, including an important 2-1 success over neighbours Manchester United back in September.

Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

However, it hasn’t all been brilliant for the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona boss, who oversaw a six-match winless run earlier in the campaign, which included their only league defeat so far at Tottenham, and a 4-0 hammering away at Barcelona in the Champions League.

Nonetheless, City avenged that loss in the Nou Camp by beating Luis Enrique’s side 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium a fortnight ago, and they now look well set to qualify for the last-16.

With international football taking centre stage this fortnight though, several City players have been away on duty for their national teams, but who has performed the best?

Here are THREE City players who have starred over the past fortnight for their country…

Nicolas Otamendi

Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

Although Nicolas Otamendi was part of the Argentina team that got thumped 3-0 by Brazil last week, he steadied the ship in a 3-0 win over Colombia on Tuesday.

The Manchester City defender was booked against Brazil but retained the trust of head coach Edgardo Bauza for the game against Colombia, and he repaid his faith with an assured display at the back.

The win moves Argentina up to fifth in the CONMEBOL qualification standings and, given that the first four qualify automatically, a bit of work is needed to ensure that 2014’s beaten finalists make the World Cup in Russia.

Fernandinho

Photo: Simon Stacpoole / Offside.

One of City’s in-form players this season, Fernandinho completed the full 90 minutes in both of Brazil’s wins over Argentina and Peru.

The 3-0 victory over the 2014 World Cup beaten finalists was particularly impressive from a Brazil side that are rebuilding excellently after their thumping 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals of the competition two years ago.

They are top of their qualifying group having won eight of their opening 12 matches, and look certain to be in Russia in two years’ time.

Raheem Sterling

Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

As much as Raheem Sterling struggled against the physical presence of Gordon Strachan’s Scotland on Friday, he was much improved and looked like the player we’ve seen play for City against Spain on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old was quick and agile, and caused Cesar Azpilicueta all sorts of problems at Wembley on Tuesday – he looked like the same player we’ve seen take Premier League defenders on this season, which was not the case against Scotland.

He was a big part of an energetic England display against the Spanish, and it’s clear that to get the best out of Sterling, and indeed several of England’s attacking options, that’s how you’ve got to play.