City have a busy Christmas period ahead of them with a Premier League fixture list that sees them face Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Southampton and Liverpool all in quick succession.
January is also set to be a busy month for Guardiola’s side with the Blues beginning their FA Cup campaign with a third round home clash with Rotherham United on January 6, followed by our two-legged appearance in the semi-final stages of the Carabao Cup against Burton Albion.
However, speaking in his pre-match Press Conference ahead of Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace, Guardiola said that he welcomed the hectic schedule.
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“Yeah, the Carabao Cup is a great competition as everyone is involved. The last month virtually everybody has played and played a lot of minutes,” said the City manager.
“It’s the only way to sustain the locker room and keep players mentally and physically fresh.”
The Spaniard went on to say that he enjoys rotating his squad for cup games and praised John Stones’ performance in the holding midfield role in last Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final win against Leicester City.
“John Stones played holding midfielder for Fernandinho, and it was incredible the way he played,” Guardiola went on.
“ That was important for me and the staff to see them playing in different positions. We need to do that or they’ll die!!
“Until the end of January it is incredible the amount of games that we have. February/March we will breathe a little bit and after that we will see what happens.”
