Liverpool may be set to pile pressure on Pep Guardiola as Man City disadvantage clear
Liverpool still needs to be perfect before the season ends to have a hope of winning the Premier League title. But the signs are there Man City may not win every game.
Despite the need to be practically perfect in the five remaining games, Liverpool has a strong chance at the title due to its common rival being overworked and exhausted. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola recently expressed his anger towards broadcasters after being forced to play just 66 hours after its Champions League loss to Real Madrid.
The Spaniard went as far as to say that he will have to keep his star players “in the fridge” if his side wants to avoid fatigue ahead of another huge game that could swing the title towards any of the three teams in the running. Two of these stars are 27-year-old Rodri and 29-year-old Bernardo Silva who sent the side into the FA Cup final on Saturday.
“I wasn’t fine at all,” Silva stated after the Madrid game. “It’s too much. It wasn’t a level field because the FA didn’t give us a chance to recover. It looks like they don’t care because we’ve said it many times.”
This is similar to Rodri’s comments in recent weeks in which he pleaded for a rest, stating he was ‘tired’ after appearing in over 40 games this season. “If a player doesn’t want to play then he’s not going to play,” Guardiola said ruthlessly at the time, after which he started Matheus Nunes instead of the Spanish international.
In The Citizen’s knockout game against Real Madrid, both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne asked to come off before the end of 120 minutes. Haaland, in fact, only played a total of 90 minutes despite the game being crucial in the club’s now-failed treble-chasing season.
It is clear that the scheduling has taken its toll on a City side that was not only the favorite for the Champions League but also leading the way in all of the competitions the side found itself in. Now after being knocked out of the EFL Cup by Newcastle in just the third round and kicked out of Europe by Madrid, the best the club can hope for is the double of the league and FA Cup.
Despite the side’s fatigue, Guardiola’s side faces Brighton on Thursday which is a side it hasn’t lost to since May 2021. In fact, this is the only time the Seagulls have beaten City in its history. A loss, though, is not all-important in a title race; a draw could be all that is needed to help Liverpool to the title and Brighton held City to a 1-1 result just last season.
