Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed he has a plan to keep top scorer Erling Haaland at full fitness during a chaotic end to the season. The Cityzens are aiming for a treble that includes the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, but some obstacles stand in their way.
Arsenal are one of those that block the path towards a historic trophy haul, with the Gunners sitting top of the division at this moment in time. The gap between the two teams sits at just six points, though the north London outfit have played one game extra and have a head-to-head with their rivals later this month.
It means that both sides will likely need a flawless end to their campaign to lift the title at the end of the season, with plenty to play for. The Gunners have the benefit of only featuring in the league, with Mikel Arteta keen to have all his players fit and available for the run-in.
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"We want our players to be as fit as possible and available," the Spaniard said when asked if his side were reaping the rewards of not featuring in Europe in midweek. "We’ve had some issues in the past few months with some important players and we want to have everybody fit and available to help the team."
Meanwhile, further north, City still battle across three fronts which has added more games to a schedule that is already looking full. It means Guardiola has a task to keep his players fresh, especially key striker Haaland, who has provided plenty of goals since his arrival in the summer.
The head coach has a plan that he hopes will give his side the edge in the title race though, as revealed before his side's clash with Leicester City. When referencing his injury concerns with previous club Borussia Dortmund, Guardiola said: "I don’t know what he’s done in Dortmund but we take care of him 24 hours, we have incredible doctors and physios, they are behind him every second of the day.
“It’s difficult to understand why you spend a lot of money and then leave them – I don’t know what the other clubs do. Today with this demanding schedule of games every three or four days we have to take care of them [the players]. It’s so demanding today, with nutrition, rest, sleep, food.
“For the training - how many minutes [they play]. There is data [which may say] they cannot train more than 10 or 15 minutes. People say why was he subbed against Leipzig when he had scored all the goals [five] but then he was injured after the Burnley game and could not play with us against Liverpool or [for] Norway.
“So we know we have to be like a watch because he’s so big - physios, massage, backs, shoulders, tendons, everything. He works so much time inside the training centre, much more than on the pitch. Today in modern football, players train more behind the scenes than on the pitch.”
It remains to be seen whether that all-round care will be enough to fire Manchester City to the title over Arsenal in the coming weeks, but it may give them the best chance possible of having their key players available.
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