Pep Guardiola hopes for some luck as Man City prepare for familiar foe
By Andy Hampson, Press Association
Pep Guardiola accepts luck could play a key part as Manchester City prepare to face Newcastle for a fifth time this season.
City travel to St James’ Park in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday having already played the Magpies twice in the Premier League and in a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final this term.
All those games have come in the last four months with Newcastle winning on Tyneside in the initial league encounter but City succeeding in the other three.
Guardiola feels the two sides have little to learn about each other.
“We know each other quite well, no surprises,” the City manager said. “It’s not the first time this season.
“How many times we have played Newcastle and Eddie Howe? A lot.
“But it’s the same for them. It is what it is. When the margins are so tight the luck is important.”
City head to Newcastle after dropping two crucial points in the title race with a 2-2 draw at home to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest in midweek.
Attention will also turn quickly after the game to the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid while the Carabao Cup final comes later this month.
Despite all these competing interests, Guardiola insists there will be full focus on the FA Cup as City bid to reach a fourth successive final.
He said: “How many finals have we played in the last year and semi-finals? A lot.
“That always means the FA Cup is so important. We’re going to travel to Newcastle to win the game to get in the next round, definitely 100 per cent.”
Guardiola has mixed feelings about the 8pm kick-off.
“Playing at 3pm, we’d have to travel today,” the Spaniard said at a press conference on Friday. “Playing at night, we travel tomorrow.
“That’s the advantage. The disadvantage is the recovery for Madrid will be less.”
Due to the upcoming schedule, some rotation may be involved this weekend.
Guardiola said: “Now we play a lot of games with long travels away and fatigue is involved.
“So we have to use all the squad, otherwise it will not be possible to play in the rhythm what we want to play.”
Guardiola has been pleased with the recent form of Rodri.
The Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder missed most of last season with a knee injury and his comeback attempts in the early part of this campaign were hampered by a number of other setbacks.
He said: “Finally it is happening like we wanted from a long time ago – when he came back to not make a step back.
“He is having some consistency in his routine to play and play and play. Step by step he is getting better. Everybody knows it.”
City will give a fitness test to midfielder Nico O’Reilly, who missed the Forest game with an ankle problem.
