Man City take on Leicester this weekend at the King Power Stadium and if Guardiola’s side can manage to pick up a win then they will temporarily go seventeen points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Leicester are currently third on the table and they need a win to keep themselves in the title race and this urge to pick up three points could force Brendan Rodgers to tinker with his formation on Saturday.
The Foxes can play a lot of positions and styles under their current boss and this adaptability is something that Pep Guardiola seems to be genuinely concerned about.
“Leicester can play in different ways four in back. Five, one striker, two strikers. They can play good build up because of the keeper. People in between like Tielemans and Maddison – they have the quality,” the manager said in his press conference.
“They can play in different ways. Brendan knows the team and the mood and momentum today decide what they are going to do. We have to adapt.
“You see all the players, they have quality. Ndidi is going well, Tielemans is a top-class player. I remember when Vincent Kompany started talking about how good he was. Vincent as always was right. Top players with quality.
“When you defend deep, they have the quality to find sources. Top class team. We have eight games left and they are third, it means they have done incredibly well. Not just this one. They were champions with Ranieri and always they were there.
“They continue to build a team. I have admiration for all the clubs. They have been doing really well for a long time.”
The Leicester City boss continuously keeps changing his formations and this has been a major headache for all the opponent managers so far.
They have picked up wins in their last three matches across all competitions and in two of those three matches, Rodgers had opted for a 3-4-1-2 system. But against Arsenal last month, he had tried a 4-4-2 formation and just before that, Leicester were playing 4-1-4-1 in the Europa League vs Slavia Prague.
Guardiola is also known to play without a recognized striker in the big games and it will not be a total surprise to see a similar ploy on Saturday. But, overall, Man City have a much superior squad and most of these players are in the form of their lives. And the sheer confidence in them should be enough to see Man City cross the line vs Leicester without any major hiccups.
Data courtesy TransferMarkt.
