Guardiola: Switching Spurs game could harm title hopes
Tottenham want Oct 28 clash moved to Etihad Change would give City three away trips in a row
Pep Guardiola has cast doubt on Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of reversing the London club’s home fixture with Manchester City to the Etihad Stadium on Oct 28 to solve their stadium crisis, saying that such a move could affect the champions’ run-in this season.
Spurs’s stadium completion delay means they have extended their Wembley contract, it was announced this week, but the game against City on Oct 28 clashes with an NFL game there.
One suggested remedy would be to switch the City game to the Etihad, meaning that the corresponding fixture, scheduled for April 20, would be in London.
But that would leave City with three straight away games at the end of April, a total of four away games out of their last five league fixtures.
Guardiola, whose side face Huddersfield Town tomorrow, said the club were eager to help Spurs find a solution after the delays to finishing their new stadium but that he could not envisage a run of away games being helpful to City’s season.
Asked whether Spurs had a responsibility to stage the game in London on Oct 28, Guardiola said: “We want to help the Premier League. I think we didn’t release any statement about Tottenham, we don’t know anything [about the situation]. I don’t know. This [delay] can happen because you build an amazing stadium for Tottenham.
“Sometimes there are delays, this kind of thing happens. I don’t know, we are going to adapt if we can adapt and of course we are going to think of ourselves as well. And, of course, the Premier League.”
Asked whether the game could be switched, Guardiola said: “I don’t know – I can only say, when that happens the last five games – four are away …”
Asked whether that would be a problem for City, Guardiola said: “I think so, when you are maybe playing for the Premier League [title], four games away is a little bit different. I’m a manager for what happens on the pitch, this is off the pitch. In the end if Tottenham want to suggest something they’ll speak with our CEO, and our people. [We want] the best for the Premier League, for Tottenham … we are going to decide.”
Guardiola said that Kevin De Bruyne’s injury would rule him out for two to three months. The 27-year-old sustained a lateral collateral ligament lesion in his right knee but will not require surgery.