Pep Guardiola believes the depth of his Manchester City squad will prevent burn-out over the intense festive programme.
The 4-0 victory against Bournemouth on Saturday extended City’s record of consecutive Premier League wins to 17. They travel to Newcastle United for a 7.45pm kick-off on Boxing Day before heading to London for a midday fixture at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Eve. A schedule of four matches in 11 days is completed with Watford’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on 2 January.
Yet Guardiola has no concerns about tiredness. “Fatigue, I don’t think so,” he said. “It may happen but we’ve a good enough squad. Gabriel [Jesus] didn’t play against Bournemouth – he played 120 minutes against Leicester and he’s the biggest fighter in high pressing I’ve seen in my life. He helps us a lot with our intensity.
“Danilo, Bernardo [Silva], [Ilkay] Gündogan all helped us against Bournemouth [as replacements]. We have Yaya [Touré]. Last game, [Oleksandr] Zinchenko was man of the match and he was not in the squad against Bournemouth.
“Of course we will rotate in this period. We have a game every four days. Everyone that has played in the past is going to play in the future.”
Two goals from Sergio Agüero – to take his tally at the Etihad Stadium to 101 – plus strikes from Raheem Sterling and Danilo took City to 55 points at the season’s halfway stage. Manchester United could only draw at Leicester City so City’s lead at the top of the table now stands at 13 points.
Asked how he can maintain intensity, Guardiola said: “Focus on Newcastle – do what we have done until now. That is what we have to do. I want to tell them what Newcastle is.
“[Newcastle] won against West Ham[on Saturday] when West Ham were in a good moment in terms of results. They have to focus on Newcastle, focus on what they have to do on the pitch. Offensively, defensively, individually, like a group. That is the only way to be focused in what we have to do. Forget about the table, the schedule, and focus on what we have to do, that is the best way.
“We ran a lot last season as well. As a manager, I’m good with that – I am able to make them run at a high intensity. That is a quality of the players I had in Barcelona and Bayern and now here.
“We are able as staff and a team to convince them how good it is going forward, be aggressive without the ball. Because after that we are quick and we take decisions with the ball.
“There is no reason to say that if we are able to do that in two years, why we cannot do it in the future. To that, I have no doubts.”
If City win their remaining three matches over the holiday period the run would extend to 20 wins – one more than Guardiola recorded when in charge of Bayern; his best at Barcelona was 16.
He said: “Our lives are better when we win, it’s simple like that. But I’m not going to sleep thinking about if I am going to break a record from my time at Bayern Munich. It’s nothing special. It’s about Newcastle. I could not see them over the last few days of this Christmas time.
“So now I’ll sit down with my staff with our laptops, try to discover what they do and keep our pace and intensity with and without the ball.”
Kevin De Bruyne started against Bournemouth having been ill in the days beforehand and he is not thought to be a doubt for the Newcastle match.
