Manchester City have trained for just ‘five, 10 minutes’ ahead of Premier League clash against Wolves

Pep Guardiola has revealed that Manchester City will have next to no time to train between their Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle and this weekend’s contest.

The Premier League champions travel to Molineux to take on Gary O’Neil’s Wolves side in the return to top-flight acton following the 1-0 League Cup exit at St. James’ Park on Wednesday night.

The City squad and staff are understood to have returned to their training base at around 2AM following defeat in the north-east, after Pep Guardiola revealed prior to the match that the club would return to Manchester via road as opposed to a short flight.

Speaking around the fixture against Eddie Howe’s men, Guardiola also detailed Manchester City’s limited training plan at present amid a congested fixture list, stating that the club would train for no more than 10 minutes ahead of the clash in Wolverhampton this weekend.

“Recovery, five, 10 minute training sessions, that’s all. You can not train, not much, but we are used to it,” said Pep Guardiola. “Last season was the same, maybe we have two or three more games with the World Cup but otherwise the same. We are used to it.”

The Manchester City boss was as such quizzed on whether the ongoing challenge at present is as much of a mental one, as it is physical, to which he responded, “I don’t think the problem is mentally, because all the players, what they want is to fight for the titles.”

He continued, “The problem is the lack of rest, mentally especially, this is the problem. Seasons come with a few weeks off, this isn’t the problem. But the players are happy to play and win the games, fighting for the titles.

“The problem is the lack of rest over years and years. With Champions League (becoming) longer with more teams, this is what it is.”

Saturday afternoon’s visit to Molineux will be Matheus Nunes’ first opportunity to face his former club after going on strike towards the end of the summer transfer window in order to force a move to Manchester City after they registered interest.

The Portugal international’s completed deal was announced on transfer deadline day, making him the fourth and final senior first-team arrival at the club during the summer, accompanied by Mateo Kovacic, Josko Gvardiol, and Jeremy Doku.