Enzo Maresca believes Sunderland will provide Man City with their toughest test of the season so far when Regis Le Bris’s side visit the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
City have won their opening four Premier League games and made it six victories in succession in all competitions with Thursday night’s 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Norwich City.
Maresca made 10 changes for that game, with Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol all rested after City’s recent games against Porto and Manchester United.
“We gave rest to the ones that played back-to-back 90 minutes against Porto and United,” Maresca said. “It was important for them to give them rest and hopefully they can be full of energy for Sunday’s game that will be a strong game.”
Maresca expects City’s toughest test against Sunderland
Sunderland finished seventh in the Premier League last season following promotion and qualified for the Europa League, and Maresca has been impressed by what he has seen from Le Bris’s side.
“I have the feeling that the Sunderland game will be the toughest game since we started the season,” he said. “I watched three or four games in the last few days, I know how strong they are and I feel that on Sunday we need a top performance to beat them and we need to be 100 per cent to win the game.”
Maresca watched Sunderland’s recent 2-0 defeat against Arsenal live before going back over the game as part of City’s preparations.
“I watched the game live against Arsenal and then I watched again the last few days. You can see how strong they are. I think personally they didn’t deserve to lose that game.
“They are very strong, very well coached by their manager, and they already have time together so you can see what they want to do on and off the ball. My feeling after watching them is that Sunday will be the toughest game since the start of the season.”
Maresca’s decision to rotate heavily against Norwich paid off, with 17-year-old Floyd Samba scoring twice on his senior debut. We have more on Maresca’s praise for Samba and City’s much-changed starting XI against Norwich.
Gianluigi Donnarumma and Antoine Semenyo were also among those who did not start on Thursday, with Maresca able to protect several senior players before returning to Premier League action.
Maresca’s full post-match comments were reported by the Manchester Evening News.
Robert Jones will referee Sunday’s game, with full details in our Man City v Sunderland referee guide, while Maresca has also provided an encouraging Jeremy Doku injury update ahead of the game.
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