Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about his plans for the upcoming Premier League game with Crystal Palace
Omar Marmoush celebrates with Erling Haaland
Pep Guardiola suggested that Omar Marmoush could have played his way into the Manchester City team to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday as he made clear he would like to rotate the team. The manager has made barely any changes to his starting XI for the last five Premier League games but saw Marmoush, Phil Foden and Savinho all contribute from the bench on Saturday.
City took the lead against Brentford seconds after Marmoush and Foden came on and the pair helped to keep the Blues on the front foot with a 3-0 win that helps their goal difference. Savinho and Foden were involved in a lovely team move that ended with Erling Haaland putting Marmoush through to score just his second league goal of the campaign.
Guardiola wanted to wait for the result of the Arsenal match against West Ham on Sunday before thinking about his team to play Palace, but would like to rotate given that match is followed by the FA Cup Final and Bournemouth away inside seven days. Asked if the impact of the substitutes could change his starting XI in upcoming matches, Guardiola said: “Yeah, especially Omar. It’s not easy because normally we play with just one striker. He’s a proper striker and Erling is there.
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“Erling is so important for us. But the contribution of Omar, always he plays the amount of goals. And the rate for the minutes played is so high. So it’s really good. We talked many times.
“I know it’s not easy for them, but I’m pretty sure the next games they’re going to play. I want to rotate the team. Because otherwise we cannot arrive in the final or Bournemouth a little bit…We’ll see the result tomorrow and after we take our decisions.”
City’s packed schedule at the end of the season was a contentious issue for the club, who have waited three months for the Palace game to be rearranged and saw all their suggestions for the remaining fixtures rejected by the league. However, Guardiola welcomes the headaches that only come when silverware is at stake as he enjoys City’s return to fighting for titles after their slump last season.
“We don’t know about the generosity for the Premier League as always. So it has been really nice for this schedule. But it’s what it is. It’s what it is, we accept. I always have said, don’t play the final in FA Cup, you won’t have this schedule,” he said.
“We are in the final, you have this schedule. And I would love to have the schedule in the semi-final of the Champions League in the middle of the title race. We were there. When we won the treble, we were there in that dynamic. So it’s really nice.
“As much as you have fit [players], we have. With energy, it’s easy to say, OK, make the substitution, one minute, Jeremy, put the ball in the net. But we want energy and Omar gives us energy. And Phil gives us that, you know that? And you need everyone. So as much as you have fit [players], you can do it because we did it. And like we did it, we can do it.”