Pep Guardiola will field a "serious team" against Bristol City for their FA Cup fifth round encounter but such has been the frenetic nature of Manchester City’s fixture schedule he’s been unable to complete his homework on the Robins.
City welcome the Premier League champions to Ashton Gate on Tuesday night having not lost their last 12 games and with confidence and self-belief at a level that they, at the very least, can provide Guardiola’s all-star line-up with a proper cup tie.
The visitors are competing on three fronts; locked in a Premier League title race with Arsenal, as just two points separate them, while they have the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against RB Leipzig in just over a fortnight, plus the FA Cup where they have despatched Chelsea and the Gunners to reach the fifth round.
Guardiola’s side are preparing for a fifth successive match on the road, and as a result the Catalan has had to largely rely on the eyes of his scouts as to what the Robins threats are likely to be. He will take more time on Monday night to watch over clips of Nigel Pearson’s side with Manchester City electing to fly to Bristol on the day of the game, to allow a full training session at the Etihad Campus.
“Last 12 games no defeat, that gives me a lot of info,” Guardiola said. “12 games no defeat tells me they are there. My scout says they are a good team. The manager has a lot of experience, (he) did really well at Leicester and Watford. It is a final, the FA Cup is an important competition, really, really important so a serious team will play.
“From my experience in this country when you go away from home in the FA Cup against a Championship side, always, always it is tough. At home it would be a little bit different, away, always it is tough the FA Cup. That is why we are flying there tomorrow to do a good game and go through.
“We play a lot of games, we played two days ago, I did not get much time to see Bristol. I saw one this morning, yesterday a little bit, today I have this afternoon, tonight so when we fly tomorrow I will see some clips and I will do everything to get as much match info as possible to the players individually as I don't know the match so this is what I have to do.”
Manchester City have fielded strong line-ups in the competition so far but that could as much be due to the calibre of opposition they’ve faced in Chelsea and Arsenal, with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega the only non-established member of the first-team squad consistently involved.
Kevin De Bruyne has missed their last two games with sickness but was on the bench in Dorset, is expected to train ahead of the trip to Ashton Gate and could be involved, as he was in the Carabao Cup semi-final at the same venue five years ago.
Bernardo Silva was an unused substitute and Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez were late replacements for the 4-1 win at Vitality Stadium on Saturday over Bournemouth, implying they could come into the starting XI.
Guardiola could still be without centre-backs John Stones and Aymeric Laporte, however, so may not be in a position to completely change his defence with Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias in starting roles.
Kalvin Phillips replaced Rodri in the 55th minute and continues to find his feet in this team, having transferred from Leeds United in the summer. A game against Championship opposition, with Phillips having previously played several times at Ashton Gate, could be the ideal situation to try and get the defensive midfielder up to speed.
“Rodri is so important for us and is playing really well,” Guardiola added. “Kalvin is adapting, adjusting a little bit - some players need a little more time, we had the feeling that he needs [to learn] a little bit more our rhythm. It was so important for him to play the minutes he played in the last game.
"We will see tomorrow and yeah of course we need him until the end of the season because there are many games but Rodri is so important right now.”
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