Pep Guardiola is refusing to let his Manchester City players relax ahead of the Manchester derby as he tries to drive up performance levels.
The Blues boss has earned the privileged position of being able to pick whoever he likes in Wednesday's Champions League game with Marseille having qualified early for the knockout stages in top spot. United, meanwhile, could afford no such luxury as they headed to Germany needing a result against RB Leipzig to avoid dropping into the Europa League.
Guardiola will make changes from the side that beat Fulham; Zack Steffen will start in goal for the first time since September and a handful of youngsters come into the squad despite an EFL Trophy match on Tuesday night. In addition, a number of players that didn't make it on at the weekend - including Phil Foden, Ferran Torres, and Bernardo Silva - can all expect to feature.
But with a fully-fit squad to choose from the coach is determined to ensure that nobody feels like they have a right to walk back into the team for the derby on Saturday or any other game.
"I don't rest players," he stressed. "I don’t rest players. I don't say these players don't play now because I was thinking about the other ones.
"We played against Porto like we played to qualify first in the Champions League and I put in place and they were awesome. We conceded one clear chance and no more against Porto. It was an incredible success.
"I said many times: the team that are going to play tomorrow can play against United and then the guys who don't play tomorrow maybe don't play against United, or maybe play. I don't know, but tomorrow my focus is I want to win this game.
"We're going to play the game to win the game, not thinking about anything else. It is the best way to prepare future fixtures because we have to respect Olympique Marseille and Olympiacos. The players know it.
"Afterwards, on Thursday and Friday we are going to think about the game against United."
