Chronicle Editor
Cape Town – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has expressed his annoyance with the Premier League’s congested festive season schedule.
The champions are one of five clubs who face two games in less than 48 hours this week.
City travel to Wolves for a 19:45 kick-off on Friday and then host Sheffield United at 18:00 on Sunday.
Guardiola has complained before about the close proximity of the two fixtures, which were confirmed when TV schedules were announced in October and has since made representations to the competition’s organisers.
Speaking sarcastically, Guardiola said: “I wrote a letter to the Premier League to say thank you and we are going to the fridge after Wolves to get ready for Sheffield United.
“We are training on the 23rd and 24th. The night of 24th is off the morning of 25th, (we) off. Then 26th training and 27th Nuno’s (Espirito Santo) team.”
Guardiola wants his players to have greater recovery time between matches.
One such star he would undoubtedly wish to protect is Kevin De Bruyne, who was outstanding in City’s 3-1 defeat of Leicester on Saturday.
De Bruyne, who also shone in last week’s win at Arsenal, admits it will be tough to maintain the momentum over the festive period.
The Belgian said: “The first game is in five or six days, so that’s OK, but the other one — I don’t know what to do. We’ll see how everybody feels after 48 hours.
“Normally it would be impossible to play but it’s the schedule and we just have to find a way to manage, but we’ll see what happens.
“Hopefully everybody feels all right for these two games but obviously we’re going to have to change a few players.”
Results
Saturday: Manchester City 3-1 Leicester City, AFC Bournemouth 0-1 Burnley, Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton, Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Sheffield United, Newcastle United 1-0 Crystal Palace, Norwich City 1-2, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton 0-0 Arsenal, West Ham United 0-0 Liverpool.
Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Chelsea,Watford 2-0 Manchester United.
Fixtures
Thursday: Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton & Hove Albion (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 14:30), Sheffield United v Watford (Bramall Lane 17:00), Everton v Burnley (Goodison Park 17:00), Crystal Palace v West Ham United (Selhurst Park 17:00), Chelsea v Southampton (Stamford Bridge 17:00), Aston Villa v Norwich City (Villa Park 17:00), AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal (Vitality Stadium 17:00), Manchester United v Newcastle United, Old Trafford 19:30
Leicester City v Liverpool (King Power Stadium 22:00).
Friday: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City (Molineux Stadium 21:45).
Saturday: Brighton & Hove Albion v AFC Bournemouth (The American Express Community Stadium 14:30), Newcastle United v Everton (St James’ Park 17:00), Southampton v Crystal Palace (St Mary’s Stadium 17:00), Watford v Aston Villa (Vicarage Road 17:00), Norwich City v Tottenham Hotspur (Carrow Road 19:30), West Ham United v Leicester City (London Stadium 19:30), Burnley v Manchester United (Turf Moor 21:45). — AFP.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter