Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has teased a ‘ridiculous’ tactic he could use against Manchester United on Saturday.
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The defending Premier League champions welcome their city rivals to the Eithad on Saturday having handed out a 6-3 beating in the season’s first derby game in October.
United go into this match in superb form, however, on a run of eight consecutive wins having eased past Charlton in a 3-0 victory in their Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday.
City take on Southampton in their last eight clash on Wednesday and will have just 48 hours to prepare for the visit of Erik ten Hag’s side.
And Guardiola has hinted he has something special in store for when the Red Devils come to town.
‘I would like to arrive against United with the average of minutes in the legs of the players quite similar because I have a few ideas, thoughts, ridiculous ones against United,’ said Guardiola.
‘I didn’t watch the last [United] games. I have to see the way they play at home [against Charlton on Tuesday] and if they change something. I have to still review it. That is why I don’t have a clear line-up against United.’
City won the Carabao Cup four years on the bounce before Liverpool’s win last campaign with Guardiola aiming to take the trophy back to spark another silverware hunt.
His team secured a domestic treble back in 2019 but the Man City head coach admits an elusive quadruple remains ‘almost impossible.’
‘Every season we fight to go as far as possible in all four competitions, otherwise we will not win four Carabao Cups in five years,’ said Guardiola.
‘That doesn’t mean we’re not going to win it. It just means the next game after United, after Tottenham, whatever comes.
‘When everyone is fit, now we have almost everyone fit, it is easier to do it. When you have less players fighting for four is almost impossible. No-one in the whole history has done it.’
