Pep Guardiola is unsure if Rodri can start for Manchester City at Arsenal on Sunday given that would be a third game in eight days for the midfielder as he continues to recuperate from a setback to the serious knee injury he suffered against Mikel Arteta’s side 12 months ago.
Rodri asked to be replaced an hour into Thursday’s 2-0 Champions League win over Napoli at the Etihad Stadium in order to protect himself. That followed the 29-year-old coming off in the 76th minute of last Sunday’s 3-0 home victory over Manchester United.
“It’s a good question,” said Guardiola when asked after Thursday’s match if Rodri was capable of starting three games in eight days. “He was so smart [asking to come off against Napoli]. I know the result was not over, it was 1-0 then, it is always tricky, but he did not feel good. So we always try to talk [to understand what is best]. We try to sustain his fitness and feel that is not uncomfortable and he is better.
“We see day by day. Yesterday, for example, in the training session he didn’t feel comfortable, he did not feel good, but said: ‘No, no, I’ll be fine tomorrow.’ And he played extraordinary. With him on the pitch we feel more comfortable, but of course after injury you have to be alert and we will decide on Sunday how he feels.”
Rodri sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage early in City’s 2–2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on 22 September last year and did not return to action until featuring as a late substitute against Bournemouth on 20 May.
The Spain international’s first start since the injury was in City’s 5-2 victory over Juventus in the Club World Cup this summer – he subsequently hurt the same knee in City’s last-16 defeat by Al-Hilal on 1 July and had to come off on in extra time after entering as a second-half substitute.
City have two fewer days than Arsenal to recover from playing in the Champions League going into Sunday’s fixture, with Arteta’s team having faced Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.
Guardiola provided a pithy response when asked how his players will prepare for their trip to north London given the limited time. “They’re going to go hiking in the mountains,” he said. “We are going to do that in these two days. I don’t know – Friday recovery, rest, rest, rest, to conserve energy for Sunday.”
City have six points from four Premier League games this season and Guardiola admitted to being unsure if his side were capable of challenging for the title. “When you win six Premier Leagues it is because you are a machine, a consistent team and so you have to prove this,” he said. “Sir Alex Ferguson said in the Premier League, after Boxing Day you have to be close to the top four. Last season, after Boxing Day, we were in another country [14 points behind Liverpool]. So we’ll see what happens.”
Guardiola provided a sarcastic answer when asked about Arsenal’s £250m summer investment in their squad. “Only I want to say to my friend Mikel Arteta – if he wins the title it will be just because he spent, not because he worked a lot on his players,” the 54-year-old said. “It’s like Liverpool – if Arne [Slot] wins the title again, it will be because he spent a lot of money. Right? Because it’s not just at Man City that this happened, right?
“For many, many years every club can do whatever he wants. I know how they’ve been treated is completely different [to City]. So all I can say is they have been wise.”
