Pep Guardiola admission to send shiver down West Ham spines – ‘I’m sorry’
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed how he’s going to approach Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Brentford and it’s bound to send shivers down West Ham spines.
West Ham United are reeling from their 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.
West Ham’s loss to Aston Villa drew criticism from former Irons goalkeeper Joe Hart, as Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side sit 18th in the Premier League.
Gary Lineker believes that West Ham can still stay up this season, but thinks they will need Jarrod Bowen to lead them to safety.
However, it’s not getting any easier for West Ham, as they prepare to travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on Manchester City this weekend.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola reveals worrying Brentford, Carabao Cup selection plan for West Ham
Before the Irons and the Citizens can get down to business in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola and his side have to navigate a Carabao Cup quarter-final tie at home to Brentford.
There is a school of thought that this could be somewhat of an unwelcome distraction for City ahead of their meeting with West Ham, and could play into United’s hands in terms of stamina levels for the weekend.
However, as reported by the Daily Mail, Guardiola has revealed that he’s planning to rotate his team for Wednesday’s cup clash with Brentford, and is prioritising the game with West Ham instead of Carabao Cup progression.
“All the players who didn’t play against Palace will play,” Guardiola said.
‘Plus of course, some from the academy because after that there are (only) three days and we face West Ham.
“The really important game is West Ham. After West Ham we have seven days to recover, but West Ham… I’m sorry it’s so, so important.“
Guardiola isn’t making West Ham’s task of snapping miserable Man City run any easier
Indeed, there aren’t many teams that have consistently got the better of Man City in recent times.
West Ham certainly aren’t one of those either, and with Guardiola confirming that star players will be rested and full focus being applied to their meeting with the Irons, it’s going to be a big ask for them to come away from the Etihad with any kind of result.
- Man City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that he will rotate his team for their Carabao Cup clash v Brentford on Wednesday
- That’s bad news for West Ham, as he’s admitted that his full focus is on their Premier League game this weekend
- West Ham haven’t beaten Man City in a league fixture in over a decade
As detailed by FotMob, you have to go back to September 2015 to find West Ham’s last league victory over the Citizens, on an evening that saw Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho net in a 2-1 win at the Etihad.
So, with West Ham winless from their last five Premier League games and staring at the possibility of relegation rivals beginning to pull away from them, time is running out to view any fixture as an acceptable ‘write off’.
United are in desperate need of points and an injection of belief, so while Guardiola’s selection admission will instil fear among the West Ham ranks, it’s a game that should be viewed as potentially holding the key to Premier League survival.
West Ham are still favourites to suffer relegation this season, but draw, or even better, win away at Man City, and that could well be the catalyst for an Irons resurgence in confidence, and that may just be enough to start turning the tide at the London Stadium.
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