Everyone associated with Manchester City knew that the 11-day period in which the Blues faced both Atletico Madrid and Liverpool twice was going to be tough, so it perhaps comes as no surprise that the cracks are beginning to show.
After victory against Atletico in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie and a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in the Premier League, City made it through to the semi-finals of Europe's premier club competition by the skin of their teeth.
Pep Guardiola's side were unable to function in the face of unrelenting Atletico pressure in the second half, so much so that they were dragged into employing the very gamesmanship tactics made famous by their opponents. A goalless draw was enough to see City through, but it came at a cost.
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City face Liverpool on Saturday in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, and will likely do so without the help of Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker. Both limped off during the second half in Madrid with what appeared to be ankle injuries.
Those two aside, if Guardiola wants to preserve some of his regular starters for the title run-in and avoid burnout, then he might have to make more changes for the showpiece fixture.
Bernardo Silva has started all three of the recent high profile games; against Liverpool he covered more ground than any other player on the pitch. All three matches were physically and mentally draining for the Portuguese star, but with De Bruyne injured there's a lack of other options to come into the side.
One area where Guardiola should find it fairly easy to rotate is the front three, thanks to the wealth of options at his disposal. None of Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish or Gabriel Jesus started in midweek, the latter serving a suspension while the other two started on the bench.
Starting all three at Wembley would allow Guardiola to rest Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez, but it's a decision that could go either way. The trio will all be eager to impress their manager, but a similar situation last season did not go according to plan.
At this time last year, City faced Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final just three days after overcoming Borussia Dortmund in a draining Champions League quarter-final tie. By that point of the season Guardiola had an established 'big game' starting XI, which he fielded in Germany.
Three days later at Wembley he rested key performers Mahrez and Foden, bringing in Jesus and an out-of-sorts Sterling, despite the fact that City already had the Premier League practically wrapped up. City were uninspiring in a 1-0 defeat, with Jesus and Sterling doing little to convince Guardiola that they should receive more game time going forward.
Fast-forward to today and the situation is a little different. City don't exactly have a 'best XI' anymore, with Guardiolateam selections seemingly decided more on a game-by-game basis, depending on the opponent's strengths and weaknesses.
Yet circumstances suggest that the duo might be the ones used to afford others a rest, along with summer recruit Jack Grealish. Sterling and Jesus have both started big games recently — the Sunday's draw with Liverpool for example — so don't necessarily have as much to prove as Grealish.
Grealish has by no means had a bad first season at the club, but he has played a combined total of just 29 minutes across City's recent big three games. Whether that was a tactical decision from Guardiola or otherwise is unclear, but a star performance at Wembley would certainly do him no harm.
Playing at Wembley always means a lot to Sterling, having grown up in a house just a few hundred yards from the home of football. Bar his goal last weekend, Jesus has not been as involved, or productive, in the second half of the season. Both will go into Saturday's game with added motivation.
If the trio click and City get a result, then they will have done Guardiola a huge favour amid a draining fixture pile-up.
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