Pep Guardiola made a major change to his usual pre-match routines by taking his Manchester City players to train at the Etihad Stadium on the eve of their derby against Manchester United.
City have just one win from their three Premier League games so far this season having lost to Tottenham and Brighton in their last two games. They were beaten by United at the Etihad last season, before drawing the away fixture at Old Trafford.
In fact, City have not beaten United in 90 minutes in their last four meetings, including their 2024 Community Shield triumph on penalties.
[
Click to subscribe to the podcast ](https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheBackFour?sub_confirmation=1)
Manchester United FC v Manchester City FC - Premier League
Photo by Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images
So it appears that Guardiola has tried something different to motivate his players with a rare Etihad training session less than 24 hours before taking on United.
Pep Guardiola changes usual pre-match routine in a bid to boost Manchester City against Manchester United
Usually, Pep Guardiola and his coaches will oversee training at Manchester City’s training ground, the City Football Academy, the day before a game.
Typically, the ‘matchday -1’ session will take place in the CFA’s enclosed pitch in order to finalise tactics and team selection.
Even in Champions League away games, when City have the right to train at the opposition stadium, Guardiola tends to train at the CFA before flying to their destination in the afternoon before the game.
So to change approach and train at the Etihad represents a departure for Guardiola, who has rarely, if ever, trained at the main stadium during his ten-year spell at City.
Kalvin Phillips trains for Manchester City in final session before taking on Manchester United
Reports emerged on Saturday that Rayan Ait-Nouri will miss a number of weeks with his injury, joining Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush in being ruled out of the derby.
Mateo Kovacic is still recovering from surgery over the summer, while Savinho and Josko Gvardiol are back in training having missed the first three games with injury.
John Stones is another doubt vs United, but Phil Foden is set to be available. So, too, could Kalvin Phillips after being included in City’s Premier League squad.
Phillips was pictured training at the Etihad after being reintegrated into the first team squad. He has spent the last 18 months out on loan but couldn’t secure another move away this summer so will now be available to Guardiola again.