The Manchester City boss has been looking ahead to their forthcomng challenges
Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, embraces Eddie Howe, Manager of Newcastle United, prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Newcastle United FC at Etihad Stadium on February 15, 2025 in Manchester, England
Pep Guardiola and Eddie Howe(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola intends to make full use of the club's forthcoming free midweeks as he prepares his side for the Premier League title race with Arsenal.
And that could spell trouble for Newcastle United, with Eddie Howe's side not only embroiled in a intense run of fixtures, but also facing something of a crisis of confidence.
Newcastle's Premier League game at Tottenham last night was their 12th match of 2026 already, with another five games in February taking the total they will have played in the first two months of the year to 18.
It's a run which is testing the Magpies' squad to the limit, with the two-legged Champions League play-off tie against Qarabag adding to their already heaving schedule.
United will face Guardiola's Man City at the Etihad on Saturday, February 21, just three days after they make the long journey to Azerbaijan in what will be a 5000-mile round trip.
City are no strangers to compacted schedules, but after finishing in the top eight of the Champions League table, they have progressed straight to the last 16, and so will have two free midweeks to prepare for the games with Newcastle and then Leeds United.
It's something Guardiola is relishing. Speaking ahead of tonight's Premier League game with Fulham at the Etihad, he said: "We have a long week before Newcastle and then a long week for Leeds.
"That is something we need desperately after this incredible run of games of three or four months with few players."
City are trying to haul in league leaders Arsenal, with a dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday, but Guardiola, is looking at the bigger picture.
"Every time in the last month, last weeks, when I go for interviews, always (they say) if you lose you are losing everything and going to disappear from planet Earth!
"For me it is what do we have to do to beat Fulham? What do we have to do to make the second half closer to the first? What is the reason why we are still dropping our performances?
"If we don't improve that, we will not win."
John Stones is close to returning after more than two months on the sidelines, defender Abdukodir Khusanov has been cleared to play tonight after taking a blow to the head in Sunday's victory at Liverpool.
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