(Reuters) – Manchester City supervisor Pep Guardiola welcomed the problem of navigating by way of a packed fixture checklist this month, saying his crew’s busy schedule was a consequence of their dominance throughout home and European competitions.
City will play eight instances in April within the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, beginning with Saturday’s league recreation at Burnley earlier than taking up Liverpool in an FA Cup semi-final and Atletico Madrid twice.
League leaders City, the reigning champions, have 70 factors from 29 video games — one level greater than second-placed Liverpool, whom they’ll host on the Etihad Stadium on April 10.
“We have a lot of video games, nevertheless it’s not the primary time we’re doing it… We’ve executed unimaginable work to this point,” Guardiola instructed a information convention on Friday.
“We nonetheless have 9 video games left to play (within the league). We can (make) errors and win the title… We’re going to struggle till the top, that is for certain.”
Liverpool can have the chance to overhaul City on the prime of the league standings in the event that they beat Watford in Saturday’s early recreation however Guardiola stated his aspect stay targeted on their journey to Turf Moor.
“It means nothing,” Guardiola stated when requested about Liverpool’s benefit. “At the top of the weekend we are going to know the place that we’re in however whether or not we’re factors in entrance or backwards we’ve to do our job.
“Burnley away is at all times powerful, particularly with the best way they play,” he stated of Sean Dyche’s crew, who’re within the relegation zone in nineteenth place with 21 factors.
“I’ve unimaginable respect for Sean Dyche for a few years. The constant approach they play exhibits he is a good supervisor.”
Guardiola stated centre-back Ruben Dias, who has been sidelined because the starting of March, would miss Saturday’s recreation and may not recuperate in time for subsequent week’s conflict towards Liverpool.
“Ruben Dias and Cole Palmer are out, the remaining are match,” he stated.
“Ruben is out, I do not understand how lengthy. The physician stated 4 to 6 weeks, he’s on 4 now. I believe we want 10 days or two weeks extra.”
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; enhancing by Clare Fallon)
