- Colin Cranmer
"Are you saying Omicron doesn't want to visit us?" - Pep Guardiola pre Chelsea press conference
Pep Guardiola is back on press conference duties ahead of the top of the table Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, as Thomas Tuchel's second place Chelsea side look to close the gap to City at the top. Pep gave an update on the situation at the club after the recent Covid outbreak as well as speaking on Tuchel, Chelsea, City's academy, and Raheem Sterling.
Pep firstly on his own health and secondly on the situation at Manchester City:
"Thank you [for asking], we [himself and family] are good."
"Some people are coming [back], some people are positive again. When you test twice negative you come back otherwise you stay at home isolating, like happens at all the clubs in the last three months."
"We have some new cases, yeah. We are used to it, unfortunately, to handling this situation for a long time. It’s happened for one or two years. We adapt and hopefully the cases are handled and players come back in a good condition."
On Premier League teams calling off games and City being 'lucky' with Covid:
" It’s a Premier League decision. I am not involved. I think the Covid is all around the world. It is not in that in this case there is more or less. It is not that in this part of the world there is no Covid. That is not true."
"Are you saying that we're the smartest? That omicron doesn’t come to visit us? We had a lot of cases and injuries. We played Aston Villa with 11 first team players. The last five games we played academy players on the bench. We're in the same situation as all other clubs."
"We learn all of us. Before we tried to plan the next few days but what we’ve learned is to take it day by day, take decisions a few hours before a training session or game because we can be ok and then in four or five hours we have positive cases."
Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea discussed:
"He didn’t like the way they played at home so they are going to play a different way. Seeing the Liverpool game and Spurs, I saw at Chelsea that they were completely different to what we played in Stamford Bridge."
"So creative. One of the few managers I learn constantly from to become a better manager myself. Excellent in all departments. I enjoyed watching his teams at Mainz and Dortmund and his approach. He makes football better."
The boss on how City's level was in the reverse fixture and where it is now:
"Football is every day. The best games were in the last few days. Football is constant evolution. You have periods where you play good, the key is to sustain that for as long as possible. Tomorrow we face the European champion. An excellent team."
"It was months ago. Every game is completely different. It was really good, we minimised the champions of Europe when they had all players fit. At that moment we were below them, we knew the difficulty. Our commitment with and without the ball was exceptional."
Lastly on the academy players:
"It’s a question of patience. Not all academy players can play with us. Cole [Palmer] because he is more settled right now and [James] McAtee we know him. There are others who can help and be involved in the future. They have to be patient."
Written by: @coIgcra
Some quotes as quoted by Manchester Evening News and Manchester City.
Follow our Twitter account for reliable, live updates on all the latest news surrounding this story and everything Manchester City in real time.