Manchester City can go four points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League with a victory over Leeds United on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium but faces a team desperate to avoid the drop.
Manchester City director Pep Guardiola believes Leeds United will be dangerous opponents under interim director Sam Allardyce given the injection of provocation change frequently brings.
City can go four points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League with a palm over the Yorkshire club on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium but faces a platoon hopeless to avoid the drop.
Allardyce was parachuted in on Wednesday in a last- gutter attempt to help Leeds, which is only outside the deportation places on thing difference, remain in the top flight.
“Always the impact of your director on the players in the first one or two games. of course every platoon is playing for important effects but for Leeds to stay (over), the impact is huge, ” Guardiola said on Friday.
“I don’t know the system he’s going to play, we don’t have any word, we can imagine what he’s trying to do with us. And again, it’s a massive, massive important game for us. ”
Told that Allardyce gave no hints about tactics in his own press conference before on Friday, Guardiola said “ When you don’t have word about the opponent. don’t concentrate much on them. suppose about your platoon, assay the West Ham game to help us know what to do for the coming game, and that’s all. ”
Treble- chasing City beat the Hammers 3- 0 on Wednesday to stretch its unbeaten run to 19 matches in all competitions.
As well as chasing the league crown, it visits Real Madrid in the titleholders League semifinal, first leg on Tuesday and faces Manchester United in coming month’s FA Cup final.
Guardiola said he was proud of how his players were managing the pressure of fighting for three titles.
“The fact that we play numerous, numerous games during the season we’re used to, so it’s not new, and what we’ve done, being then until the end, we’ve done in the history, so there’s no surprise, but I respect my players for the fact that again and again they’re doing it, ” the Spaniard said.
City’s Erling Haaland could extend his record for utmost pretensions in a Premier League season on Saturday against a Leeds defence which is the worst in the top flight. The 22- time-old Norwegian netted his 35th thing against West Ham to set the new mark.
Asked about Tuesday’s titleholders League clash with Madrid, Guardiola said City’s sole focus was on the Leeds game.
“There’s a lot of games with a lot of pressure. We rehearsed moment, history, so the platoon is really tired. We’ve to see how the players recover again, ” he added.
“We ’ll be fastening on how they are, physical and internal. Premier League is so nice, it’s so important hereafter to go four points in front of Arsenal and it’s really, really important, and so the whole focus is on the game hereafter. ” Know More Latest Football News…
