Pep Guardiola has suggested he’ll rotate for Manchester City’s League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, implying the Premier League game at the weekend is more important.
Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s League Cup semi-final against Brentford on Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola told the media that Saturday’s Premier League fixtures against West Ham United is the important one.
There’s often a question of whether the very top managers take the League Cup seriously, and Guardiola’s opinion is particularly significant given he’s won the competition four times.
But though the manager denied that reaching the semis isn’t a priority for him, he confirmed his plans to heavily rotate his team and suggested he’d only go full strength in the League Cup if he didn’t have injuries.
“James (Trafford) is going to play and all the players who didn’t play are going to play, plus some from the academy,” Guardiola said. “After that, in three days, we have West Ham.
“I’m not saying that getting to the semi-finals of the League Cup is not the priority, but normally when we achieve it it is because we have all the squad, no injuries and can rotate, the team is good.
“I have to find the balance but there are players with a lot of minutes with not much time to recover, and with the physios and the doctors I have to see because the important game is West Ham. I’m sorry, but West Ham is so, so important.”
Guardiola clearly believes his team are strong contenders for this year’s Premier League title, which is pretty inarguable as they sit just two points behind Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
So even though this weekend’s game is at home to 18th-placed West Ham United, it’s more important to him than Wednesday’s League Cup quarter-final.
That will be good news for Arsenal if Guardiola’s rotated side get eliminated by Brentford, potentially giving the Gunners an easier path to the trophy. But it suggests they have their work cut out winning their first Premier League title since 2004.