I took full advantage of the International break to take the family for a weekend in London.

We had been given a voucher, by friends, to visit the viewing platform at the Shard. It was cloudy at the time we went up, but clear enough to see straight down.

As we posed for pictures and admired the views, I felt a little bit queasy. Vertigo is a strange and scary feeling. I knew I was safe up there but as I peered right down the side of the building my stomach felt like it was about to jump out through my chest.

As we get closer to the return of the Premier League this weekend, I’m getting that feeling again. We’re fast approaching the business end of the season. It’s when titles, European places, relegations and promotions are decided.

Suddenly every game, every point and every goal matters. Manchester City are dreaming of winning the big three; the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

On Saturday the Blues return to action against Burnley at Turf Moor. They should win, because Sean Dyche’s men are second from the bottom. Burnley will have nothing to lose as they take on the seemingly impossible task of facing Pep Guardiola’s Blues.

Assuming City win and Liverpool overcome another of the bottom three, Watford, the top two will then face off at the Etihad Stadium with just a point separating them. Although, statistically, it won’t be a title decider because both teams will still have seven Premier League fixtures to go, it will certainly feel like one.

Immediately after that titanic fixture, City face Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final. Atletico knocked out United in the previous round and play the “anti-football” style that Pep’s teams have sometimes struggled to overcome.

As if that’s not enough City then face Liverpool again the following Saturday, but this time at Wembley with a place in the FA Cup Final at stake. There’ll be another huge crowd to see that game, despite the FA’s reluctance to play the game in the north when they knew there were no trains from Manchester and Merseyside into or out of London that day.

Will City be buoyed by a great result at the Etihad Stadium against Jurgen Klopp’s men or be determined to get revenge if the Reds took away all three points?

As the dust settles on the “Clash of the Titans”, number two, City travel to Madrid for the second leg of their Champions League tie. I love watching football everywhere and anywhere, but even I have to admit that it’s going to be epic during the next fortnight or so.

Once this intense period of fixtures is done, it won’t all be over; oh no! Even if City win all the fixtures I’ve just mentioned, they’ll then have a Champions League semi-final against Chelsea or Real Madrid to navigate through, before possibly meeting Liverpool in the final in Paris.

In the League, City would probably still have to win their remaining seven games to guarantee another title and it could be Chelsea again in the FA Cup Final in May.

I’m exhausted just writing all this, so imagine the physical and emotional energy that will have been used up during the next few weeks by players, coaches and fans.

I’ve got that feeling again, like the butterflies I felt stood on top of the Shard. The more I think about it, it feels more like Tom Cruise must have felt when he stood on top of the Burj Khalifa, the World’s highest building in Dubai. Then again, Tom Cruise has nerves of steel, and I don’t! 

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