- Man City have busy calendar
- Some fixtures still need rearranging
- Citizens want two matches switched
Manchester City are working to get two matches swapped around in order to give themselves an additional day of rest.
At this point in the season, players are getting burnt out due to the brutal demands of competing in the latter stages of multiple competitions.
Manchester City are still in the FA Cup, and have more Premier League games to fulfil than any other team except Crystal Palace.
Their next, however, is not until Monday night, allowing Pep Guardiola to take advantage by giving his squad a three-day break.
Still, after that there are set to be a lot of fixtures in a short space of time. As a result, City are looking at forcing a change which would make their lives a little bit easier.
Man City want two fixtures switching around
Currently, the Citizens have fixtures against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth respectively that need to be rearranged either side of the FA Cup final on May 16.
The match against Palace is meant to take place first, as this was postponed back in March due to the Carabao Cup final.
However, according to the Daily Mail, City are in talks with the Premier League over facing Bournemouth before their next trip to Wembley, then playing the Eagles a few days later.
With Crystal Palace competing in the Conference League, they would only be able to play on Wednesday, May 13 if the fixture remains as it is. This would cause City to play three times in seven days.
Yet if this was changed, Guardiola’s team would play twice in eight days which is far more manageable, even if it is still far from ideal.
Unfortunately, Mirror have reported that the Premier League will be sticking with their original decision, but there has been no official confirmation as of yet.
Squad depth is key for City
Nico Gonzalez was the star of the show last Saturday and Guardiola will have to rely on more of his usual bench players with so many matches upcoming.
In general, the midfield trio played well against Southampton, but some players struggled to impress.
Phil Foden looked lost for Man City and Omar Marmoush had a number of chances which were not placed in the back of the net.
It is essential that these players rediscover their form, because Guardiola will need to call on most of his squad in order to compete in all these impending matches.
Guardiola needs to find a right-back solution
While City’s starting line-ups have been changed based on the competition, Matheus Nunes has been a constant starter for his team.
Indeed, the Portuguese star has started every game since missing out on the Champions League first leg tie against Real Madrid.
Nunes cannot be made to play all the time, especially if City’s request to switch their upcoming fixtures around is denied.
Therefore, Guardiola must either put his trust in Rico Lewis, or get innovative again by finding someone else who could be moved into the right-back position.
