Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City visited Fulham on Saturday afternoon (Picture: Getty)
Pep Guardiola has given an explanation for why he rested Kyle Walker for Manchester City’s pivotal match against Fulham, claiming that Jack Grealish’s illness prevented him from playing at all.
In an attempt to pass Arsenal at the top of the Premier League before the Gunners’ next game against Manchester United on Sunday, Man City traveled to Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon.
Guardiola is in control of the championship, but Arsenal will have the opportunity to win the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004 if they stumble against Fulham, Tottenham, or West Ham.
Ruben Dias replaced Walker in the lineup that thrashed Wolves 5-1 the previous weekend, marking Guardiola’s lone alteration. Grealish, Walker’s teammate from England, was unable to participate due to illness.
Walker has started 28 of Manchester City’s 35 Premier League games this season. Guardiola gave the following explanation for his decision to leave Walker out: “No specific [reason], but Kyle didn’t train the last two days and was partial [not fully fit].”
“We play away at Tottenham on Tuesday, and Ruben [Dias] is incredibly dependable in these kinds of matches.” Although [Jack Grealish] felt unwell at the last minute, he is fine.
For their encounter with Premier League winners Man City, the hosts made a single substitution: Bobby De Cordova-Reid was brought back in place of the injured Sasa Lukic by Marco Silva.
Pep Guardiola speaks on the fine margins that will define who will lift the Premier League trophy this season 🏆
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 11, 2024
Guardiola went on to say of Fulham’s threat—whom Man City’s title rivals Arsenal have lost to twice this season—that “they have always been good.”
“It depends on the outcome, but we constantly struggle here.” Marco Silva makes a fantastic manager. We attempt to interpret our tasks and enforce our strategy.
“We are aware of the goal of our game.” We have the opportunity to compete in three finals, beginning with the first one.
Since 2005, Fulham has made 11 attempts to win at home against Manchester City in the Premier League.
“To be competitive like we have been so far this season,” Silva responded when asked what he expected of his team, which is currently ranked 13th in the standings.
We are aware that we will be playing a formidable team with a lot of quality—the champions from the previous campaign.
Much respect to them, but let’s focus on ourselves first. We intend to play well and attempt to score three points.
