Football: City players all committed even as World Cup nears, says Guardiola
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Manchester City's Bernardo Silva (left) and Phil Foden are likely to be involved in the World Cup for Portugal and England respectively.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his players are fully committed to every game they play, despite the World Cup in Qatar starting in just over two weeks and the risk of injury before then.
City host Fulham on Saturday hoping to go top of the Premier League table, at least for a day.
The English champions are two points behind leaders Arsenal (31), who travel to Chelsea for their blockbuster clash on Sunday, and Guardiola knows this is a perfect opportunity to put pressure on Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.
The Spaniard has no doubt his men feel the same, saying on Friday: “I want to be honest, I see our players, how they run, compete in duels, I’m not concerned at all (about them putting in their 100 per cent) in these last six to seven days together.
“Next Saturday starts World Cup preparation, or holidays, what I saw now (is that) everyone is committed to what we have to do.”
City are hoping to extend their winning streak at the Etihad to 15 matches in all competitions. They have scored at least three goals in all but one of those victories, and they are also unbeaten in their last 18 home fixtures since a 3-2 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in February.
Guardiola can feel confident as City have won their last 12 meetings against Fulham, but the Cottagers are surprisingly flying high in seventh place and only five points behind the top four.
When asked if he was surprised by promoted Fulham’s good results, he said: “Not surprised at all, see what they did in the Championship... manager is exceptional.
“Under pressure they can use long balls to (Aleksandar) Mitrovic. A top, good team, no surprise. Drew against Liverpool (2-2 in August) and continued that way. He is scoring goals (nine in 12 games). Pushes defenders to limits and he’s clinical.”
City have a deadly striker of their own in Erling Haaland, who has already scored 17 league goals and 22 overall this season. He missed the last two games because of an ankle injury
Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips remain sidelined as they fight to be fit for England at the World Cup
Fulham are unbeaten in their last four games, with two wins and two draws. Marco Silva’s men have already collected more points this season (19) after 13 matches than they managed at this stage in 2018-19 (eight) and 2020-21 (nine) combined. This, though, will be one of his biggest tests.
“They are different than all the others,” Silva said of City. “We have to be realistic, we have top teams in this competition. But they are different, and they are probably the most difficult team to play against, in my opinion, as well.
“They have the quality but some teams can compete and do well against them and let’s hope we can. It will be really difficult for us but it is our obligation to try.”
Fulham will be without Bobby Decordova-Reid (suspended) and Neeskens Kebano (injured). AFP
