Pep Guardiola says the upcoming fixture congestion for Manchester City is the reason he replaced Rodri with Ilkay Gundogan vs Leicester on Saturday.
Gundogan played the last 30 minutes of City's Carabao Cup victory over Oxford this week, replacing Rodri, and he was preferred from the start against second-placed Leicester.
But Guardiola insisted his team selection, which included eight changes from the Oxford win, had nothing to do with the Foxes' threat on the break, led by the pacey Premier League top goalscorer Jamie Vardy.
"We spoke a lot about what we have to do to win the game," he explained.
"Normally we speak most of the times about what you have to do with the ball and defensively, but focussing on our team. I don't like to speak too much about our opponents.
"Be ourselves. Try to have the ball, to run without and defend set peices. Try to play football. Take the ball and pass the ball and try to score goals."
Explaining why Gundogan was given the nod on Saturday, Guardiola insisted it had nothing to do with who would best combat Leicester's attack - instead pointing to the busy Christmas schedule that sees City facing six games in 18 days.
He said: "Gundo played in this position many, many times. Last season, the last three of four months he played a lot in this position. We decide to play him today.
"Now, there are an incredible amount of games, last game we played incredibly in the Carabao Cup most of the time. The last minutes Gundogan [came on]. The players are going to have a lot of games."
