Manchester City take on Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Saturday as Pep Guardiola looks for his players to end the season in good shape
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - APRIL 16: General view during a training session at Manchester City Football Academy on April 16, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Manchester City Football Academy(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Manchester City's training ground has been quiet ahead of the FA Cup final with Crystal Palace. It isn't that the players are still smarting from dropping two points at relegated Southampton, they just haven't been there.
After a recovery session on Sunday, Pep Guardiola has given his squad two days off before they then regroup to prepare for what the manager will deem two finals in four days. Beating Palace at Wembley would be nice, but the priority is probably Bournemouth at home on Tuesday night.
City's slip at Southampton means they were leapfrogged by Newcastle on Sunday and can be overtaken by Chelsea and Villa before they play again. A top-five finish will still be in their hands when they kick off against Bournemouth, but they could be as low as sixth when they do so if results go against them.
Already more important than the FA Cup and the Premier League finish is how City start next season. Improvement is expected in the Premier League and Champions League yet the club's participation in the Club World Cup threatens to put them on the back foot and tired before they begin those campaigns.
Guardiola likes to give his players as much time off as he can, and two or three days have been fairly standard for the last few months with not as many midweek fixtures. The build-up for the cup final will be no different to how other recent games have been.
The rest days are also with the summer in mind, even before Guardiola knows if his team will be required back to Wembley for the Community Shield in August a week before the Premier League begins. City had asked for a delayed start to the league on the back of their Club World Cup commitments, so an FA Cup final win would give them another fixture headache in addition to the trophy.
"I would like to give weeks off but we cannot give it to them," he said this month. "We try to give as many days off as possible during the season, create a good environment in the team that hey hare happy to come here and train, and game by game.
"They need rest that we cannot give them, the players need to disconnect mentally and physically but the schedule is the schedule."
Guardiola would love to win the FA Cup and show everyone what he has been telling himself for a year - that this group of players are still capable of competing at the highest level and winning major trophies. It's just he has to take the Premier League into account because of the uncertain finish.
Trumping both is next season, with plans already in full swing to try and ensure City aren't handicapped before they even begin trying to reclaim their Premier League title from Liverpool. When City's players return to training on Wednesday, it is to be hoped that their freshness from the rest extends well beyond this weekend.
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