Manchester City look to continue their perfect start to the season against Sunderland and a number of players will come back in
Enzo Maresca rested several Manchester City stars against Norwich
Enzo Maresca rested several Manchester City stars against Norwich
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Enzo Maresca wants his rested Manchester City stars to pay him back by overcoming their toughest challenge so far this season. The City boss made ten changes from the derby as they thrashed Championship outfit Norwich 5-0 in the Carabao Cup on Thursday, but Maresca is expected to welcome back his biggest stars for Sunday's Premier League game against Sunderland.
Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol were all left out of the matchday squad for the Norwich game while Gianluigi Donnarumma, Antoine Semenyo, Iliman Ndiaye, Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson were left on the bench. In their absence, 17-year-old Floyd Samba shone on debut with two goals and a number of fringe players were given the opportunity to play their way into Maresca's thinking.
With City taking the maximum 12 points from their four games after beating United last week despite playing for 70 minutes with 10 men, Maresca is keen to finish the first block of fixtures on a high before a three-week international break. However, he knows he will need the strongest City team possible given what he has seen so far from Premier League surprise package Sunderland.
"We gave rest to the ones that played back-to-back 90 minutes against Porto and United," he said. "It was important for them to give them rest and hopefully they can be full of energy for Sunday's game that will be a strong game.
"I have the feeling that the Sunderland game will be the toughest game since we started the season. I watched three or four games in the last few days, I know how strong they are and I feel that on Sunday we need a top performance to beat them and we need to be 100 per cent to win the game.
"I watched the game live against Arsenal and then I watched again the last few days. You can see how strong they are. I think personally they didn't deserve to lose that game.
"They are very strong, very well coached by their manager, and they already have time together so you can see what they want to do on and off the ball. My feeling after watching them is that Sunday will be the toughest game since the start of the season."