Pep Guardiola names problem every team 'except Liverpool' are suffering this season as Man City clash looms
Liverpool are in pole position to win the Premier League title as they sit at the summit of the table.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes growing injury issues in his squad and the Premier League are because of the fixture calendar.
City have endured a woeful season and will relinquish their top-flight crown - having won the past four titles. They were hit with a blow when key midfielder Rodri suffered an ACL injury last September. The Etihad Stadium side have suffered a number of setbacks, with Manuel Akanji now ruled out for the rest of the season for an adductor problem.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have lost Kai Haverz for the remainder of the campaign because of a hamstring issue while Tottenham are coming to the end of an injury crisis.
Premier League leaders Liverpool have had fitness problems of their own, with Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker having prolonged periods on the treatment table. But as things stand, Joe Gomez (hamstring) is the only senior player on the treatment table as the Reds sit seven points clear at the summit of the table.
What’s been said
And Guardiola, speaking ahead of City’s clash against Newcastle United, believes that players are suffering from fatigue. The former Barcelona chief said: “We always expect injuries during the season, not so much [as this season] but I would say it’s not just a problem for Man City.
“Tottenham, Arsenal right now, except Liverpool that was so stable in those terms, all the teams have examples - Real Madrid as well, many teams. “When you accumulate season by season, like Manu, the body says it's enough. The solution to prevent that I think Jurgen Klopp and I said in the past the solution is the calendar. There is no other reason why there are a lot of injuries. No other question.”
Liverpool face City at the Etihad on Sunday 23 February. The Reds will be aiming to inflict further misery on Guardiola’s side, who threw away a lead to suffer a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League knockout play-off first leg. In addition, Arne Slot’s side earned a comprehensive 2-0 win over CIty during the meeting at Anfield in December.
Conceding late goals has been a constant problem for Guardiola’s troops, having been in command of games against Feyenoord, Manchester United, Brentford and most recently Madrid but dropping points. The ex-Bayern Munich chief believes that has contributed to draining his players mentally.
‘We deserve to have a bad season’
“Always I rotate a lot the team, but everyone knows that at certain times the starting 9, 10, 11 was clear,” he added. “But we cannot do it with the problems that we have and a lot of players who play a lot of minutes they are so tired.
“Emotionally as well because of how many times we were winning with 10 minutes left and lost the game. If you lose 5-1 against Arsenal it’s easy to swallow. It’s more difficult the ones at Brentford, United and the last game against Madrid and these games.
“We know we have to suffer and we are not fine and we know that. We deserve to have a bad season, come on. In eight or nine years - we are human beings, it can happen. We were not consistent for many reasons, especially for that. We don’t have the players for the amount of games because of the injuries that we have and most players had to play a lot of games.”