When rumours start to circulate about who a club could appoint to replace their current manager, chances are said club have lost about seven games on the bounce and are in the midst of a relegation battle.
Manchester City and Pep Guardiola don't really do things the 'normal' way.
The reigning Premier League champions have won 14 of their past 15 games in all competitions, though talk of who will replace Guardiola in the City hot seat continues to rumble away as he enters the final 18 months of his contract
Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira have emerged as frontrunners in the race to replace the legendary boss, as per The Athletic, with both garnering experience of managing in the Premier League as well as having previously worked at City in a coaching capacity.
If Arteta and Vieira are currently embroiled in an 18-month long, very public job interview, their respective weekend outings will have done the latter's case to succeed Guardiola absolutely no harm whatsoever.
As Arteta's Arsenal side suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat at Championship side Nottingham Forest on Sunday evening, Vieira could relax safe in the knowledge he'd already masterminded his team's route to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Crystal Palace negotiated a potential banana skin of a tie away at London rivals Millwall. A dire first-half showing meant the Eagles headed for the half-time interval a goal down, but a sprinkling of Michael Olise magic ensured Vieira's side wouldn't be subjected to one of the dreaded first few slots on Match of the Day later that night.
It took less than one minute of the second half for the £8million summer signing to restore parity. After Conor Gallagher picked the ball up midway inside the home side's half, Olise backpedalled towards the sidelines in order to create room for himself on the right flank.
Once the Chelsea loanee had lifted his head and found his Palace teammate, Olise shifted the ball onto his magical left foot and almost started to taunt Millwall's Scott Malone as he edged closer and closer towards the penalty area.
Despite Malone's best efforts to force Olise onto his right, the youngster cut inside and curled a sumptuous strike into the far corner, leaving goalkeeper George Long to look more like a spectator than the home fans watching on in despair.
The effort typified everything that's great about Olise's play, yet City winger Riyad Mahrez could probably file a strong lawsuit against the Palace man for copyright infringement.
Mahrez has forged an incredibly successful career on just such a move, offering his team width by hanging out on the right-hand side and bamboozling left-backs before manoeuvring himself a yard and curling the ball into the far corner.
The baffling thing about Mahrez's play is that it seems such a simple thing to nip in the bud - managers up and down the country have no doubt spent hours of their pre-match preparations telling their left-back to put the Algerian onto his right foot. Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.
Olise proved he's similarly as frustrating to opposition defenders on Saturday afternoon and later in the half he almost produced a carbon copy, only to be denied by the post. Millwall's relief wouldn't last long as Olise's pinpoint cross from the Palace right found Jean-Philippe Mateta, who powered Vieira's men into the next round of the competition.
Vieira may not have worked as closely with Guardiola as Arteta did during his time at City, but that's not to say he hasn't picked up just as many tips as the Arsenal boss.
There will no doubt be plenty of factors the City board consider when they come to replace Guardiola; do they want someone who knows the club already? Do they need to know how to get the best out of City's top players? Do they need to be bald?
If the answer to all of the above is 'yes' then they might have found their man.
Do you think Vieira is the man to replace Guardiola at City? Follow City Is Ours content editor Ross Jackson on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
