Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca says teams “need to adapt” to the fixture scheduling as his side head into Sunday’s Premier League derby with two days extra rest over rivals Manchester United.
City won 2-0 at Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, with United thrashing Sabah 4-0 a full 48 hours later – meaning Michael Carrick’s side have less recovery and preparation time than their opponents.
But Maresca pointed to City’s own situation from last September before facing Arsenal – when the Gunners played in the early kick-off at Athletic Club on Tuesday, while City faced Napoli in the 20:00 BST game on Thursday.
Last season, former boss Pep Guardiola joked he was taking his players “hiking in the mountains” in preparation for the game at Emirates Stadium.
When asked about the scheduling, Maresca told Sport: “To be honest, the club mentioned to me that it happened exactly the same last year when the club played Napoli and then, after two days, played Arsenal.
“Sometimes it happens in football. I don’t have any doubt that Man United are going to be ready for that. It just matters to adapt.”
The expanded Champions League means teams now play two extra games in the group phase before the end of January, while English teams also have to contend with participating in the Carabao Cup.
City host Norwich in the third round next Thursday, while United play Brighton at Old Trafford the day before.
“I think that happens and you need to adapt,” said Maresca, when asked if the scheduling equals itself out. “It happened last year with us, this season with them, next season it will happen with a different team.”
Quizzed on how Carrick would be feeling, Maresca replied: “That’s a question for Michael. The only thing I can say is it happened and you need to adapt.”
Maresca takes charge of his first Manchester derby and has started the season with City in superb fashion, winning all three league games so far, while United have only managed to collect four points from their opening three games.
“It is very important for different reasons,” said the Italian.” We know how important a derby is, especially here. It is a special game.
“The most important thing we can do is try to be ourselves and then we see the final result.”